30 years without justice: First-instance verdict in Štrpci Case overturned – trial restored
On 30 October 2023, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade issued a decision[1] annulling the first-instance verdict in the Štrpci Case and returning the case for retrial. The Humanitarian Law Center considers it inadmissible that thirty years after the abduction and murder of twenty civilians in Štrpci, the judicial authorities are unable to conduct the procedure in a professional manner and reach a verdict.
Initiating the proceedings again implies the re-traumatisation and exhaustion of the families of the victims and witnesses in this proceeding, as well as the trivialisation of war crimes trials. Such a decision not only delays the imprisonment of the direct perpetrators, one of whom has already died during the proceedings, but also the hope that representatives of the civil, military and police authorities of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who were familiar with the kidnapping plan in Štrpci, will be prosecuted for the crime. This procedure has not contributed to the discovery of the mortal remains of the victims, which is one of the goals of the National Strategy for the War Crimes Prosecution.
As the reason for the annulment of the first-instance verdict by which Gojko Lukić, Duško Vasiljević and Jovan Lipovac were sentenced to ten years in prison and Dragana Đekić to five years in prison, for the abduction of passengers from a train in Štrpci on 27 February 1993, and for their abuse, torture and murder, the Court of Appeal finds an important violation of criminal proceedings. In its decision, the Court of Appeal states that the first instance court failed to decide on the defence’s proposals on the interrogation of Milan Lukić, the commander of the “Avengers” unit, whose interrogation was of “decisive influence on the making of a lawful and proper decision” because, according to the position of the first instance court, he was “the person most responsible and from beginning to end a participant in and witness of all the events that were the subject of this criminal procedure”. The first instance court not only also failed to decide on the defence’s proposal to examine two other witnesses, but also insufficiently assessed the differences in the testimonies of individual witness hearings, and failed to harmonise the text of the testimony of one witness with the content of his audio recordings.
Such reasons for revoking the judgment indicate that the court did not conscientiously and with due diligence conduct the proceedings, because otherwise it could not have happened that the court dids not make any decision, either positive or negative, on the motion to question the person who was, in its own opinion, the most responsible for the crime.
The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (now the Public Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor – POWCP) issued the first indictment against Gojko Lukić, Ljubiša Vasiljević, Duško Vasiljević and Dragana Đekić, members of the “Avengers” unit, and Jovan Lipovac, member of the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion of the Višegrad Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska, on 3 March 2015. However, the court returned the indictment to the Prosecutor’s Office owing to the observed formal deficiencies, and then returned the indictment nine more times, on account of both the formal deficiencies and the supplementation of the investigation. The indictment was confirmed only on the eleventh attempt in October 2018. Such work on the indictment is unworthy of any prosecutor’s office, and especially of a specialised prosecutor’s office such as the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor.
The trial for the crime in Štrpci began on 29 January 2019. The first-instance verdict was rendered on 7 February 2023. During the proceedings, the defendant Ljubiša Vasiljević died.
The HLC also recalls that, to date, the POWCP has not initiated proceedings against those representatives of the army, police and civil authorities who did not prevent the abduction of the civilians from the train, although they had been informed about the planned action, for which evidence has been available, since 2002 at the latest.
The families of the victims, most of whom are citizens of Serbia, have once again been left to wait for justice by the actions of the judiciary.
Victims
Adem Alomerović (59), from Prijepolje
Ismet Babačić (30), from Podgorica
Fehim Bakija (43), from Bijelo Polje
Tomo Buzov, 52, from Belgrade
Rasim Ćorić (40), from the village of Zaluga
Senad Đečević (16), from Bar
Muhedin Hanić (27), from Prijepolje
Rifet Husović (26), from Bijelo Polje
Nijazim Kajević (30), from Prijepolje
Esad Kapetanović (19), from Bijelo Polje
Iljaz Ličina (43), from Bijelo Polje
Fikret Memović (40), from Prijepolje
Safet Preljević (22), from Prijepolje
Jusuf Rastoder (45), from Podgorica
Šećo Softić (48), from Bijelo Polje
Džafer Topuzović (55), from Prijepolje
Fevzija Zeković (54), from Prijepolje
Halil Zupčević (49), a refugee from Trebinje
Zvjezdan Zuličić (23), refugee from Sarajevo
Unidentified man from Sjenica
To date, the mortal remains of only four victims of the crimes have been found. The body of Halil Zupčević was found at the end of 2009 on the shores of Lake Perućac, and the mortal remains of Rasim Ćorić, Jusuf Rastoder and Iljaz Ličina were found in the same lake in 2010. The other victims are still in the missing persons records.
[1] News published on the website of the Court of Appeal on 4 December 2023 http://www.bg.ap.sud.rs/lt/articles/sluzba-za-odnose-sa-javnoscu/aktuelni-predmeti/ratni-zlocini/rz-donete-odluke/
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