The Bosnian State Court dismissed appeals from the prosecution and defence of Sasa Baricanin and confirmed the verdict which sentenced him to 18 years of prison for crimes committed in Sarajevo.
In November 2011, Baricanin was found guilty of involvement in the murder of three members of the Bosniak Balvanovic family, as well as multiple rape of a woman in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Grbavica in 1992.
Baricanin, former member of a Bosnian Serb paramilitary unit, was also found guilty of enslaving a person.
The prosecution and the defence both appealed the verdict in March. Prosecutor Behaija Krnjic requested that, due to “especially aggravating circumstances”, Baricanin be sentenced to at least 20 years of prison. Baricanin’s lawyer, Dusko Tomic, requested a retrial.
“The first instance Chamber displayed a high degree of intolerance and contempt for my client,” said Tomic at the time.
The Appeals Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina dismissed both appeals as “unfounded”.
The time Baricanin spent in custody, since February last year, will be subtracted from the sentence and it is not possible to appeal to this verdict.
He was arrested in February last year, and the trial started two months later.
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.