By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Last Wednesday, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) found Mico Stanisic and Stojan Zupljanin guilty of participating in murder, torture, and persecution of Bosnian Muslims and Croats during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

Stanisic was the interior minister of the Bosnian Serb republic and Zupljanin was a senior security official. Stanisic turned himself over to the court in 2005. However, after 9 years of hiding, in 2008, Zupljanin was arrested in Budva, Montenegro.

During Stanisic and Zupljanin’s trial, which lasted 365 days, 199 witnesses testified and more than 4,000 pieces of evidence were offered.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia stated the two men contributed to a “joint criminal enterprise with the objective to permanently remove non-Serbs from the territory of a planned Serbian state.”

The United Nations’ war crimes court sentenced the two former Bosnian Serb officials to 22 years in prison for crimes against humanity, including acts of murder, torture, unlawful detention, deportation and plunder in various parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.

Nedeljko Mitrovic, president of the RS Organisation of Families of Captured, Killed Soldiers and Missing Civilians, stated, “With this judgment, The Hague proves it did not change its earlier policy towards the Serbs. They prove, once again, their intention to blame the Serbs responsible for everything. We all know how many crimes were committed against the Serbs, but, unfortunately, there is still no justice for those people.”

However, Sonja Biserko, director of the Belgrade Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, said, “It is good this judgment was passed, especially since it points to Serbia’s involvement in the war in Bosnia, because these charges are, in some way, part of the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic. Relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are still low, and to improve them is much work.”

Furthermore, Murat Tahirovic, president of the Bosnia and Herzegovina War Camp Prisoners Association, said, “This is definitely a positive decision of The Hague tribunal and we hope the appeals chamber of court will not reverse this judgment. These men are responsible for mass killings and torture. It’s good that the court proved this as a joint criminal enterprise, because it shows that top police officials knew what was happening on the ground during the war in Bosnia.”

Zupljanin and Stanisic are among 163 individuals sentenced by the ICTY for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

For further information, please see:

Southeast Europe Times – Hague Convictions Sparks Mixed Reactions – 1 April 2013

Aljazeera – War Crimes Court Convicts Bosnian Serbs – 27 March 2013

BBC News – War Crimes Court Jails Bosnian Serbs – 27 March 2013

RFE/RL – Two Former Bosnian Serb Officials Jails for 22 years — 27 March 2013

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – On Friday, a war-crimes court in Bosnia- Herzegovina handed down its longest sentence yet of 45 years for the crimes committed by Veselin Vlahovic, 44, during the 1992-1995 Balkan conflict, which killed some 100,000 people and left some 2 million refugees.  Vlahovic, nicknamed “Batko” was a former member of the Bosnian Serb paramilitary forces “White Angels,” allied to the Bosnian Serb Army, and was known to his victims as the “Monster of Grbavica” and “Master of Life and Death.”

Prosecutors presented the court with a 66-count indictment against Vlahovic, which was also the most extensive list for 1992-95 Bosnian war crimes.  Prosecutor Behaija Krnjic said of the indictments, during his closing arguments, “He killed 31 people, took 14 people who have still been considered missing, raped 13 women,” having earlier stated Vlahovic’s “name was the synonym for evil”.  Vlahovic pled “not guilty.”

In a verdict that took two hours to read, Vlahovic was found guilty on 60 of the counts (and acquitted on 6 due to lack of evidence) for 31 murders, rapes of at least 13 women and torture and robbery of dozens of civilians in Grbavica and Vraca, Serb-occupied areas of Sarajevo, in 1992.

The verdict drew loud applause from victims’ associations in the heavily guarded and packed courtroom, while Vlahovic sat emotionless through the proceedings.  Earlier, he had insulted a witness, a local journalist who reported on his crimes during the war, and according to the prosecution, sent an intimidating letter to a victim’s family.

The 45-year sentence is the maximum that can be given for such crimes.  Bosnia-Herzegovina does not practice indefinite imprisonment or the death penalty.  Both sides intend to appeal.  Although the prosecution received the maximum sentence as requested, it wishes to readdress some of the specific points of the verdict.

Vlahovic is from Montenegro, which was united with Serbia during the Balkan wars.  During the war, many Montenegrins supported the Serbs against the Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Kosovo Albanians.

Judge Bozic said Vlahovic’s horrific acts took place between May and July 1992 in three districts of Sarajevo controlled by Serb forces – Grbavica, Kovacici, and Vraca.  The judge graphically described several of Vlahovic’s crimes.

Bozic said Vlahovic would often demand ransoms of money or gold for his captives and, “Victims who could not pay for their lives would be typically taken to a recognizable location on Trebevic hill and shot in the head.”

“It was a typical pattern [of his] behavior.  Those who had nothing to offer in turn for their lives were typically killed by a shot in the forehead, mouth or temporal bone, according to forensic accounts,” said Judge Bozic.

In one particularly brutal example, “In June 1992, he forced 13 members of the Pecar family out of their home and ordered three male relatives to run across a front line street planted with mines.”  Vlahovic ordered his soldiers to open fire, which he knew would result in return fire from the combat lines.  In the cross-fire, one woman died and three family members, including a girl, were wounded and left on the street.

Judge Bozic further described Vlahovic’s rape of a seven month pregnant woman in front of her young daughter in their apartment, and another sequential rape in which Vlahovic raped a daughter and then her mother as the daughter was forced to watch.

Judge Bozic concluded that Vlahovic carried out “horrid, cruel and manifold criminal acts”.

Vlahovic has been sent to prison before, only to escape.  12 years ago in Montenegro, he was jailed for robbery, but went on the lam.  He then hid in Spain under a Bulgarian passport until 2010 when he was arrested and extradited in August to Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Vlahovic is also wanted for armed robbery in Spain, and murder in Serbia.

Perhaps this time, the monster will stay locked away.

For further information, please see:

24 Sata – FOTO: Tužilaštvo i odbrana ulažu žalbe na presudu Veselinu Vlahoviću [PHOTO: Prosecution and Defense are Appealing the Veselin Vlahovic Ruling] – 29 March 2013

24 Sata –  VIDEO / Maksimalna kazna za “Monstruma sa Grbavice”: Batko osuđen na 45 godina [VIDEO / The Maximum Penalty for the “Monster of Grbavica”: Batko Sentenced to 45 Years] – 29 March 2013

Al Jazeera – Bosnia’s ‘Monster of Grbavica’ Gets 45 Years – 29 March 2013

BBC News – Bosnia Jails Serb Veselin Vlahovic for War Crimes – 29 March 2013

RFE/RL – Bosnia’s ‘Monster of Grbavica’ Gets 45 Years For War Crimes – 29 March 2013

Sky News – Warlord ‘Batko’ Jailed For Sarajevo Killings – 29 March 2013