Serbian Supreme Court Obstructs War Crimes Trials

The Serbian Supreme Court verdict in The Scorpions case showed once more that the Serbian Supreme Court, deciding in the second instance in war crimes trials, was guided by political and not legal considerations. Namely, in the first instance verdict rendered by the Belgrade District Court War Crimes Chamber on 10 April 2007, defendants Slobodan Medić, Pero Petrašević, and Branislav Medić were found guilty of a war crime against the civilian population, Aleksandar Medić was found guilty of abetting the same crime, while Aleksandar Vukov was acquitted of all charges. Slobodan Medić and Branislav Medić were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, Pero Petrašević to 13, and Aleksandar Medić to five years of imprisonment.


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BiH Court Correctly Ruled in Case of Srebrenica Genocide

The BiH Court War Crimes Chamber in Sarajevo, presided by local judge Hilmo Vučinić, rendered a guilty sentence on 29 July 2008 convicting seven defendants, former members of the Republic of Srpska Ministry of Interior, for genocide committed against Muslims in Srebrenica. The primary defendant Miloš Stupar was sentenced to 40 years of imprisonment, Milenko Trifunović to 42, Aleksandar Radovanović to 42, Brano Džinić to 42, Slobodan Jakovljević to 40, Branislav Medan to 40, and Petar Mitrović to 38 years of imprisonment. Velibor Maksimović, Dragiša Živanović, Milovan Matić, and Miladin Stevanović were acquitted of all charges.


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Osijek County Court Convicted Antun Gudelj to 20 Years of Imprisonment

The verdict rendered by the Osijek County Court [7 July 2008] convicting Antun Gudelj to the maximum sentence of twenty years of imprisonment is only the first step towards the clarification of the murder of peacekeepers. The state is obliged to investigate whether the murder of Josip Reihl Kir, Goran Zobundžija, and Milan Knežević and the attempted murder of Mirko Tubić were planned in order to obstruct negotiations and possible multinational solution as an alternative to the war. We would like to remind that the negotiators were killed on 1 July 1991, just prior to the escalation of the war in Croatia.


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Trial of Pašić fair, but the punishment is lenient and disproportionate to the crime

On July 8th, 2008, the War Crimes Trial Chamber of the Belgrade District Court presided by Justice Snežana Nikolić-Garotić handed down a decision sentencing Zdravko Pašić to 8 (eight) years in prison for war crimes committed against the civilian population. This case was transferred from the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia to the Office of the War Crimes Trial Chamber of the Republic of Serbia.


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Zvornik Verdict in accordance with Evidence

The Belgrade War Crimes Chamber reached and announced the verdict on 12 June 2008, finding defendants Dragan Slavković, Ivan Korać, and Siniša Filipović guilty of committing a war crime against the civilian population in the Municipality of Zvornik, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the period from April to July 1992 pursuant to Article 142 of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ). Slavković was sentenced to 15 years in prison; Korać to 13, and Filipović to 3 years in prison. Defendant Dragutin Dragićević was acquitted of all charges.


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HLC Kosovo: Trial and Verdict of Florim Ejupi for Terrorism brings Victims Justice

On 6 June 2008 Priština District Court International Trial Chamber, presided by international judge Hajnalk Karpati, found Florim Ejupi guilty of terrorism for his role in an a attack on the Niš-Express bus in Livadice in the vicinity of Podujevo on 16 February 2001 in which 11 Serbs were killed and 46 wounded, and convicted him to 40 years in prison.


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Verdict on Generals Ademi and Norac Case brings no Justice to Victims

The trial of two Croatian generals, Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac, for crimes committed against civilians and prisoners of war in theMedak Pocket was conducted with efficiency and a high degree of professionalism; the Presiding Judge prevented the politicisation of the trial and gave the victims who participated in the trial dignity. However, the verdict reached on 30 May 2008, though it established that war crimes against Serbian civilians and prisoners of war had been committed in 1993, ignored the facts pointing to the responsibility of the defendants.


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