Bosnian Serb Fighter Convicted of ‘Brutal’ Persecution of Bosniaks

The Bosnian state court convicted Rade Garic on Monday of the persecution of Bosniaks from Vlasenica and Srebrenica, finding him guilty of involvement in murders, forcible disappearances, physical and psychological abuse and other inhumane acts.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison under the first-instance verdict, which can be appealed.

Garic was initially a member of reservist police forces in Vlasenica and later became commander of the Intervention Section of the Drina Squadron and the Intervention Squad of the Vlasenica Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, according to the verdict, which described his crimes as unscrupulous and brutal.

He was found guilty of participating in three separate murders of Bosniak civilians. The verdict said that in the summer of 1992, Garic abused on Bosniak man in the Vlasenica area by cutting him with a knife and putting salt on his wounds, and then taking him to a location at which he was killed and his body thrown off a cliff.

He was also found guilty of killing another man who he captured in November 1992 and beat up, together with other soldiers. The court found that the man died after Garic hit him with a rifle butt in his chest, which made blood pour from his mouth.

The verdict further determined that Garic and members of his squad participated, in 1995, in the abuse and murder of a Bosniak man who they hanged on a tree and then cut his head off. The body was thrown into the river while Garic and his men kicked his head about.

"Such treatment of a living man is rarely seen in war crime cases," said presiding judge Jasmina Cosic-Dedovic said, adding that such behaviour illustrated Garic's attitude to Bosniaks.

Garic was also found guilty of several cases of physical and mental...