Bosnian state court

Ratko Djurkovic told the Bosnian state court on Tuesday that he was innocent of persecuting Bosniak civilians on ethnic and religious grounds in the Ugljevik area from April 1992 to the end of October that year.

"I plead not guilty," Djurkovic said.

The Constitutional Court in Sarajevo has ruled that former policeman Mico Jurisic's right to a fair trial was not breached, upholding his conviction for crimes against humanity.

The Bosnian state court found ex-policeman Simo Stupar guilty on Tuesday of participating in a widespread and systematic attack on the Bosniak population in the Vlasenica area from April 1992 to the end of September that year, involving murders, the abuse of civilians and forcible disappearances.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has dismissed an appeal filed by ex-soldier Muhamed Sisic, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for committing war crimes in the village of Kukavice, near the town of Rogatica, in August 1992.

The Serbian authorities granted citizenship to former Bosnian Serb military policeman Mirko Vrucinic in June 2020 - two months before his defence was due to present its closing arguments in his war crimes trial, BIRN has learned.

Researcher Hikmet Karcic cites the Simic case in his report entitled 'Obeying Unlawful Orders: Continuity of Personnel Involved in Human Rights Violations and its Impact on Reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina'.

Karcic notes in the report that several convicted war criminals who have served their sentences have since returned to public office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court announced  on Thursday that it has upheld the first-instance verdict sentencing Mile Pazin to one-and-a-half years in prison for the inhumane treatment of a Bosniak civilian in the Stolac area during wartime in July 1993.

The court said it was "dismissing defendant Mile Pazin's appeal as unfounded".

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has turned down an appeal from Darko Mrdja, a former member of a police intervention squad at the Public Security Station in the city of Prijedor, against the verdict convicting him of crimes against humanity.

The Bosnian state court told BIRN on Friday that it has ordered an international warrant to be issued for the arrest of Marko Kovac, who has been charged with crimes against humanity in the Foca area of Bosnia in 1992 and 1993.

The War Crimes Section of the Higher Court in Belgrade has granted a request by the Bosnian Justice Ministry to recognise a verdict from the Bosnian state court convicting former military policeman Dragomir Kezunovic of committing crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war.