News in English     | 22.03.2019. 20:44 |

Cvetković gets 12 years for murders and wartime rape in Srebrenica and Bratunac

FENA Press release

SARAJEVO, March 22 (FENA) - Bosnian Serb wartime fighter Saša Cvetković has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murder of two elderly Roma women and the rape of two Bosniaks in the Srebrenica and Bratunac areas in 1992.

The state court in Sarajevo on Friday found Saša Cvetković guilty in a first-instance verdict of the murder of two elderly Roma civilians in the village of Kolonija, near Srebrenica, and the rape of two women in Bratunac, in June 1992, BIRN reports.

“Alaga and Mejra Halilović were disabled elderly Roma civilians who lived in Kolonija. They were at their house, unarmed and not members of any military formation,” said presiding judge Staniša Gluhajić.

He added that one of the rape victims was a minor, while the other was under 20 years old, and that the court found it indisputable that they were civilians and did not participate in hostilities.

Judge Gluhajić said that although there was no evidence that the defendant was member of the military, the witnesses’ testimonies suggested he was uniformed and armed with an automatic rifle.

Gluhajić said that one witness said he saw Cvetković shoot at Alaga Halilović with an automatic rifle and then at Mejra Halilović, who was bedridden. Evidence suggested that the bodies of the two women have never been found, he added.

The judge said that the court determined that Cvetković raped the two civilians, who knew the defendant, based on the testimonies they gave. He said that the women described the crime in a clear, detailed and convincing manner.

Gluhajiić said the court had not accepted the defendant’s claim that he was not present in Bratunac at the time, because it was in contradiction to testimony given by other witnesses.

“As for the mitigating circumstances, the chamber considered the fact that he committed the crime as a young adult, as well as the fact that he had not been sentenced before and is a family man,” he said.

He said that the court also took into account as aggravating circumstances “the facts that he committed the crime against elderly and disabled civilians and that one of the raped persons was a minor, less than 16 years old when the crime was committed”.

Cvetković was ordered to pay one of the rape victims 7,670 euros for the pain and suffering she endured, while the second victim was advised to file a civil suit for compensation.

The defendant did not attend the hearing for health reasons.

The verdict can be appealed.

(FENA) S. R.

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