Bosnian Serb Ex-Soldier Gets Six Years for Rape in Glamoc

Dusko Suvara, who failed to attend the pronouncement of the first-instance verdict, was found guilty of having raped two Bosniak women in the Glamoc area while a member of the Bosnian Serb Army, VRS, in May and June 1992.

The Chamber found that Suvara took a victim identified only as S-1 from a house in Luke under threat and raped her. The defendant, while shooting, later entered the house of a victim identified as S-2 in the village of Cukure, where S-2 was with her husband, demanding money. He then took S-2 to a meadow, where he treated her in an inhumane manner and raped her.

The Chamber said guilt was determined on the basis of all evidence presented, especially the defendant's admission of guilt for the second count from the indictment. The Chamber did not accept his denial of the first count from the indictment.

Trial Chamber chairman Davorin Jukic said that, as for aggravating circumstances, the Court took into consideration the gravity of the crime and the defendant's persistence, as well as previous convictions.

"As for mitigating circumstances, the Chamber took into account the fact that at the time the defendant was a young adult and expressed regret and admission of guilt for count two," Jukic said.

He said the Chamber had found him guilty of a war crime against the civilian population based on former Yugoslav law, which was in effect at the time and is more lenient to the perpetrator.

He added that the Chamber had intervened with the indictment, omitting everything that had not been proved or was considered redundant. it could not determine that Suvara was responsible for torture, as his actions did not clearly reach the threshold for that crime.

The defence's proposal of a combined prison sentence was...

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