Serbian Court Urged to Jail Bosnian Serb Soldiers

The prosecution in the trial of former Bosnian Serb Army soldiers Joja Plavanjac and Zdravko Narancic urged Belgrade Higher Court on Thursday to convict both defendants of committing crimes against Bosniak civilian prisoners during the Bosnian war.

Eleven prisoners were shot dead in Bosanska Krupa in August 1992 by Plavanjac, who was assisted in the crime by Narancic, the prosecution claims.

In his closing statement to the court, acting prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said the victims were civilians and not, as the defendants claim, prisoners of war who were members of armed forces.

"The victims were young people, some of whom had just come of age," said Vekaric.

"[Defendants] Plavanjac and Narancic are family men or partially family men who have been living peacefully with their families for 27 years since the crimes they committed. The Alijagic, Kaltak, Omic, Cehajic and Sejdic families [of the victims] were deprived of the possibility to live peacefully with their relatives," he added.

The prosecutor called on the court to sentence Plavanjac to 20 years in prison and Narancic to eight years.

The defendants insisted however that their guilt had not been proven, and claimed that the murders were committed by Plavanjac's father, Lazo. Their lawyers asked for a verdict of acquittal.

According to the indictment, Narancic was a member of the Bosnian Serb Army's Eleventh Krupa Light Infantry Brigade and a guard at a military prison that was set up in the Petar Kocic elementary school in the town of Bosanka Krupa, where civilians from the Bosanska Krupa, Sanski Most and Bihac municipalities were detained.

Narancic allegedly let fellow Bosnian Serb Army soldier Plavanjac into the prison armed with a machine gun.

Plavanjac...