Two courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina have brought verdicts for war crimes by which Vlatko Jarak was sentenced to a year in prison for crimes in Stolac and Ranko Trivunovic acquitted of crimes against POW’s in Glamoc.
The Cantonal Court in Mostar sentenced Vlatko Jarak to one year in prison for crimes against Bosniak civilians in the Stolac area.
Jarak, former member of Knez Domagoj Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, was found guilty of having participated in unlawful detention and forcible resettlement of the Bosniak population from Stolac.
“On July 17, 1993 the indictee arrested Maid Rudic, Dzevad Avdic and Mustafa Avdic in the village of Osanici, tied their hands with barbed wire and cursed them. He then took them to Vlatko Raguz' house, knowing that they would be taken to Dretelj camp,” said the Trial Chamber Chairman Hamo Kebo.
Jarak’s sentence can be appealed to the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On Thursday, the Federal Supreme Court acquitted a Bosnian Serb. Ranko Trivunovic, of charges for crimes against prisoners of war committed in the territory of Glamoc.
Trivunovic, former Bosnian Serb army soldier, was acquitted of charges that on April 11, 1992, in the village of Dolac, he killed Nikola Anicic, a Croatian Defence Council solider from Tomislavgrad.
Zorica Gogala, the presiding judge of the Trial Chamber, said that the prosecution failed to prove that Trivunovic committed the crime.
“This court could not establish that Anicic’s death was caused by Trivunovic’s actions,” explained Gogala.
Trivunovic was previously found guilty by the Cantonal Court in Livno, but this verdict was appealed before the Federal Supreme Court, which ordered a retrial.
Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.