Bosnian War Crime Cases Halted as Ageing Defendants Die
"The court does not work slowly. It acts on all indictments filed by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina without delay and has the capacity to process them. However, the indictment filing dynamics and timing comes under the exclusive responsibility of the Bosnian state prosecution," the state court said.
The prosecution insisted meanwhile that it works according to the official state strategy for processing war crimes cases, and that suspects' deaths of illnesses are beyond its control.
'Justice came too late'
Milan Bogdanovic. Photo: BIRN.
The last defendant who died was Milan Bogdanovic, who was acquitted under a first-instance verdict in March 2019. Because of his death, an appeal against his acquittal is now impossible.
Cases closed: the deceased defendants
The following suspects died over the past five years before a final verdict in their cases. They are listed with the location of their alleged crimes.
Milan Bogdanovic: Zvornik
Jovan Popovic: Visegrad
Izet Arifovic: Srebrenica and Bratunac
Mirko Raguz, Ivica Markovic: Stolac
Cvjetko Popadic, Radivoje Djordjic: Lokanj
Vinko Kondic, Mico Prastalo: Kljuc
Dragomir Tintor, Zdravko Antonic: Prijedor
Gvozden Lukic: Vlasenica and Milici
Nedjad Coric: Mostar
Ostoja Balaban: Bosanski Novi
Vlado Stjepanovic: Bijeljina
Dragan Lubarda: Rogatica
Fahrudin Hadziosmanagic-Tadic: Bosanska Krupa
Aleksandar Petrovic: Kotor Varos
Fahrudin Alic: Sarajevo
Novak Mitrovic: Zavidovici
Bogdanovic had been accused, as former commander of the Sixth Company of Special Police Units at the Public Security Station in Zvornik, of being responsible for capturing...
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