Two Bosnian Serb Ex-Soldiers Convicted of Inhumane Treatment

The Bosnian state court on Tuesday sentenced former Bosnian Serb Army soldiers Bratislav Bilbija and Djuro Adamovic to two and three years in prison respectively for committing a war crime against civilians in the hamlet of Bukvik, near Prijedor, in August 1992.

The court acquitted Bilbija and Adamovic, and third defendant Ranko Babic, of murder, torture and forced disappearances.

Tuesday's first-instance verdict said that Adamovic kicked, punched and hit a man in Bukvik with a rifle butt, and continued hitting him, together with others, until he fell down and lost consciousness. He also sentenced hit another man afterwards.

Bilbija was found guilty of kicking, punching and hitting another man in Bukvik with a rifle butt.

Both Bilbija and Adamovic were cleared of hitting a man on his head with an axe and taking him to a pre-dug hole where another soldier killed him.

The court also acquitted Babic of accusations that, as the most senior officer at the scene, he failed to prevent the crime being committed and, by his presence, encouraged others.

"The prosecution has in no way proved that Babic was superior to the soldiers and that he encouraged them. On the contrary, some witnesses said that he tried to calm down the situation and that some persons cursed him," said presiding judge Mira Smajlovic.

The defendants were also cleared of taking away the three men they assaulted to an unknown location. Smajlovic said that it was impossible to speak about forced disappearances from Bukvik as some witnesses said that they saw the individuals who allegedly disappeared in other places later.

The verdict can be appealed.