Bosnian state court

The Bosnian state court on Thursday rejected a request from Croatia to remand Vinko Martinovic, alias Stela, in custody after his arrest the previous day on an international arrest warrant for committing a murder in 1996.

The Bosnian state court on Monday ordered Milomir Savcic, the wartime commander of the 65th Protective Motorised Regiment of the Bosnian Serb Army's Main Headquarters, to be remanded in custody for breaching a court order prohibiting him from speaking publicly about issues related to the charges against him, his lawyer told BIRN.

The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court has reduced the sentences handed down to wartime fighters Radovan Paprica and Slavko Ognjenovic for committing rape in the Foca area in 1992 from eight to seven years in prison.

The Appeals Court in Belgrade told BIRN that it has partially upheld an appeal from former Bosnian Serb Army soldier Dragomir Kezunovic and given him a lower sentence of five years in prison for crimes committed during the Bosnian war.

Six Bosnian Serb ex-servicemen - Ilija Krcmar, Bosko Uncanin, Svetislav Racic, Zeljko Bajic and two others who both have the name Nikola Cuk - failed to appear at the Bosnian state court on Tuesday for the opening of their trial for crimes against humanity.

Two more defendants, Marinko Miljevic and Dragan Despot, did appear in court, and both pleaded not guilty.

The decision by the UN court in The Hague last month to uphold the life sentence handed down to former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic takes the number of life terms imposed for involvement in the Srebrenica genocide to five.

The Bosnian state court on Monday convicted Bozidar Perisic of shooting two Bosniak men dead in the village of Gracanica, near Rogatica, on June 19, 1992.

The bodies of victims Salem and Mustafa Sijercic were later burned by unknown members of the Bosnian Serb Army, and have still not been found.

The Bosnian state court announced on Monday that it has partially upheld appeals filed by former detention camp guards Boris Bosnjak Miodrag Grubacic and Ilija Djajic, who were convicted of the inhumane treatment of non-Serb civilians at the former Mosa Pijade military barracks in Bileca in 1992, reducing their sentences.

Former commander of the 9th Mountain Brigade of the Bosnian Army, Nezir Kazic, received 10 years, while Fadil Covic, former chief of the Public Safety Station in Hadzici, and Becir Hujic, former manager of the Silos detention camp in Tarcin until August 1994, got eight years in prison each.

The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court found Enver Buza guilty on Friday of failing to order an investigation after members of the Bosnian Army's Prozor Independent Battalion killed 27 civilians in Uzdol on September 14, 1993, including women, children and elderly people.

However, the court reduced his prison sentence from 12 years to eight years.