Hague Refuses to Halt Bosnian Serb’s Case

Milan Gvero/Photo by ICTY

The appeals chamber said that Gvero, who was convicted in a first-instance verdict of war crimes committed at Srebrenica in 1995, had sufficiently recovered from the stroke which he suffered two years ago.

“The appeals chamber is satisfied that Gvero has the ability to understand the substance of the trial judgment against him, understand the appeals process and its possible consequences, understand the substance of the prosecution’s grounds of appeal against him and instruct his counsel with regard to filing an appeal on his behalf,” the Tribunal’s decision said.

Gvero, who was the Bosnian Serb army’s assistant commander for ‘moral, legal and religious issues’ at its main headquarters, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 2010 for his involvement in the expulsion of the non-Serb population from Srebrenica in July 1995.

He was convicted of participating in a joint criminal enterprise which also resulted in the murder of over 7,000 men and boys.

Gvero was granted early release after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

The prosecution had appealed that the five-year sentence was too short but proceedings were suspended when Gvero suffered his stroke.

His defence asked for the proceedings to be terminated altogether, but the Tribunal has now ruled that he is healthy enough for the case to continue.