Mile Pazin

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".

Mile Pazin's defence launched an appeal on Wednesday at the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo against last September's verdict finding him guilty of the inhumane treatment of a Bosniak civilian prisoner during the war.

In closing arguments at the Bosnian state court on Thursday, the prosecution asked for Mile Pazin and Vide Kresic to be found guilty of crimes against civilian prisoners in the Stolac area in 1993.

"The prosecution considers that it has proved beyond doubt that the defendants committed the crimes that they are charged with in this case," said Bosnian state prosecutor Igor Dubak.

Defendant Josip Kresic has died and was buried last week in Stolac, where his alleged wartime crimes were committed, his lawyer Nenad Gvozdic told BIRN.

He is the third defendant in the case to have died before a verdict was handed down, after the deaths of former co-defendants Mirko Raguz and Ivica Markovic.

The Bosnian state court told BIRN on Thursday that it had received a death certificate for Ivica Markovic, who passed away at the beginning of July.

"As it has been determined during the criminal proceedings that the defendant died, the court has made a decision to terminate the proceedings against defendant Ivica Markovic," the court said.