Former Territorial Defence fighter Fikret Planincic’s 11-year prison sentence for taking part in the 1992 killings of nine Serb civilians, including two children, has been upheld on appeal.
The defense teams of three former Territorial Defense soldiers charged with war crimes in Kotor Varos have called upon the state court’s appeal chamber to hand down verdicts of release. The defense states their clients didn’t participate in an attack on civilians in the village of Serdari in 1992. The verdict is scheduled for February 4.
Presenting its closing statement at the retrial of former Territorial Defense members Fikret Planincic, Sead Menzil and Mirsad Vatrac, the prosecution called for a guilty verdict. The prosecution insisted the trial chamber consider the death of civilians and girls while deliberating the sentence.
After determining that it is incomprehensible, the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, quashes a first instance verdict, under which Fikret Planincic, Sead Menzil and Mirsad Vatrac were sentenced for crimes in the Kotor-Varos area.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, proposes to the Appellate Chamber of the Court of BiH to pronounce longer sentences against Fikret Planincic, Sead Menzil and Mirsad Vatrac, who were sentenced, under a first instance verdict, to a total of 33-and-a-half years in prison for crimes in Serdari, Kotor-Varos municipality.
Four ex-members of the Kotor Varos territorial defence force were jailed for a total of 43 years for involvement in the killing of 16 Serb civilians in the village of Serdari in 1992.
Four former Bosniak Territorial Defence fighters accused of attacking the village of Serdari in 1992, when 16 Serb civilians were killed, called for not guilty verdicts as their trial concluded.
Presenting his closing statement at the trial for crimes committed in Kotor-Varos, the Prosecutor says that it has been proved that the indictees participated in an attack on Serdari village, requesting the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to sentence them in accordance with the law.