Marija TausanSarajevoBIRNFebruary 24, 202316:59Three former Croatian Defence Council fighters were sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison for crimes against civilians in the Mostar area in 1993 including unlawful arrests, mistreatment of prisoners and rape.
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The Old Bridge in Mostar. Photo: BIRN.
The Bosnian state court on Friday sentenced former Croatian Defence Council, HVO fighter Nedzad Tinjak to 12 years in prison, Jure Kordic to three years and Drazen Lovric to one year for war crimes against civilians who were illegally detained and mistreated in Mostar in 1993.
Six other wartime HVO fighters were acquitted – Dario Susac, Nuhan Sikalo, Dario Mihalj, Stanko Skobic, Tomislav Ancic and Slavko Golemac.
Tinjak was found guilty of having participated in the unlawful arrests of Bosniak civilians who were then detained at the Vojno prison camp, as well as treating them inhumanely and raping two women.
Kordic was found guilty of participating in unlawful arrests and treating detainees at the Vojno prison camp inhumanely. Lovric was convicted of unlawful arrests.
Susac, Sikalo, Mihalj, Skobic, Ancic and Golemac were acquitted of the unlawful detention, torture, inhumane treatment and rape of civilians who were held in inhumane conditions at the Vojno detention camp from 1993 to 1994.
The court reclassified the offence from the indictment, finding that it had not been proved that the accused had committed crime against humanity and participated in a joint criminal enterprise with other HVO members.
Tinjak, Kordic and Lovric were convicted instead of committing a war crime against the civilian population.
They were acquitted on several counts because the court could not determine that they were guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
Presiding judge Enida Hadziomerovic said they were acquitted of charges of sexual abuse because one witness described what happened differently from what was written in the indictment, while a second witness constantly identified different people as the perpetrators.
The trial began in May 2018. Two defendants, Nedzad Coric and Marinko Sunjic, died during the proceedings.
This was a first-instance verdict and can be appealed.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
