State court sentences six former Bosnian Serb Army members to total of 83 years for murders of 44 men and deportation of women and children from village in Sokolac in 1992.
Six former Second Romanija Brigade members have been sentenced by Bosnia’s state court to 83 years in jail in total for crimes against humanity committed near Sokolac in eastern Bosnia in 1992.
Momcilo Pajic was sentenced to 20 years, Miladin Gasevic to 15 and Branislav Kezunovic, Zeljko Gasevic, Jadranko Suka and Nikola Koprivica to 12 years each.
The first-instance verdict acquitted Dragomir Obradovic and Aleksa Gordic.
According to the verdict, the six defendants knew
According to the verdict, the six defendants knew about a widespread and systematic attack on the Bosniak civilian population in the Sokolac area lasting from May to September 1992, when disarmament, arrests, transportation and military operations took place.
“All this could not have gone unnoticed by the defendants,” said presiding judge, Enida Hadziomerovic in the verdict explanation.
The chamber concluded that the aim of the action in Novoseoci village was the ethnic cleansing of the population who had previously surrendered their weapons and were loyal to the Bosnian Serb authorities in Sokolac.
Members of the Second Romanija Brigade reportedly deployed
Members of the Second Romanija Brigade reportedly deployed themselves around the village on the night of September 21,22, 1992. “The assignment and deployment were managed by Momcilo Pajic and Miladin Gasevic,” Judge Hadziomerovic stated.
Pajic was found guilty as commander of the Military Police, and Gasevic as deputy commander of the Reconnaissance Company.
According to the verdict, the villagers were ordered to leave their homes in the morning and gather at the Metaljka site. Pajic was summoned to the nearby Buljukovina site by the commander of the Second Romanija Brigade, Radislav Krstic, who ordered him to return to Novoseoci and implement the agreed plan to kill the men and deport the women and children.
In Novoseoci, an elderly woman, Devla Karic, who
Meanwhile, in Novoseoci, an elderly woman, Devla Karic, who had been told to look for her husband, was killed by Reconnaissance Company member Slavisa Cvijetic.
Upon Pajic’s return to the village, the women and children were separated and taken to Sarajevo by bus. “The men were detained with Pajic’s announcement that they would be designated for exchange,” the verdict statede.
Pajic, as noted, selected a group to liquidate the village men, which included former members of the Reconnaissance Company, Miladin and Zeljko Gasevic, Momir and Branislav Kezunovic, Jadranko Suka, and former military policeman Nikola Koprivica, as well as other members who have since died.
They got into the vehicles, knowing that they
“They got into the vehicles, knowing that they were being taken to kill [people],” the chamber stated.
As stated, the men were taken in two trucks to the Ivan Polje location, where the group was led by Miladin Gasevic. There, at the sinkhole, they first brought men from one truck and then from another and killed all 44 of them.
“178 shots were fired from automatic weapons … The remains were found in 2000, covered in garbage and the ruins of the mosque in Novoseoci,” Hadziomerovic stated.
She added that, for the killing at Ivan
She added that, for the killing at Ivan Polje, the Chamber was primarily guided by the statements from the investigation from protected witnesses N-2 and N-3, as well as other witnesses. According to her, later denials by N-2 and N-3, that they were not at Ivan Polje, were unconvincing.
The chamber said the sentences imposed were in accordance with the actions committed by the accused. “The court did not establish special mitigating circumstances,” Hadziomerovic noted.
The chamber concluded that the prosecution had not proven a joint criminal enterprise. On this basis, the former commander of the Sokolac Police Station, Dragomir Obradovic, was acquitted. Hadziomerovic said it was not proven that Obradovic took any other actions or knowingly assisted them.
The chamber also did not establish that Gordic,
The chamber also did not establish that Gordic, indicted as deputy commander of the Military Police, took any specific actions.
The trial began in May 2021. Proceedings against Milan Tupajic and Momir Kezunovic were suspended by their deaths. The former commander of the Second Romanija Motorized Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, Radislav Krstic, who is serving a sentence in Estonia imposed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugosla
An appeal against this verdict is allowed.
Source: balkaninsight.com
