prijava
SARAJEVO, August 29 (FENA) - The BiH state court has sentenced five former Bosnian Croat soldiers to a total of 12-and-a-half years in prison for crimes committed in a camp in Ljubuški in Western Herzegovina.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday jailed five former Bosnian Croat soldiers to 12 years and six months for committing crimes against Bosnian prisoners at the Ljubuški camp in Western Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia.
Ivan Kraljević was jailed for two years, Mato Jelčić for 18 months, Stojan Odak to seven years and Vice Bebek and Vinko Radišić to a year in prison each.
All five former members of the Croatian Defense Forces, HVO, were found guilty of holding Bosniak prisoners in inhumane conditions, permitting their abuse, giving them little food and taking them to do forced labor.
Kraljević and Jelčić were former commanders, at different periods, of the camp in Ljubuški, which was located in the old police building and held around 100 Bosniaks. The other defendants were guards.
Presiding Judge Jasmina Kosović said the Prosecution had proved that the five indictees were responsible for crimes in the camp.
Kosović recalled that, due to the poor hygienic conditions in the camp, diseases, infections and lice spread, and the prisoners were constantly afraid for their lives.
“More than a hundred persons were illegally detained in Ljubuški, where they were held in inhumane conditions, taken to do hard labor and physically and mentally abused, just because they were of a different nationality,” said Kosović.
“They were held in places that were wet and had rodents. They only got food once a day and had to go to the toilet in a bucket in the same room,” she noted.
The same verdict acquitted Slavko Skender and Miloš Dragan of all charges.
Another former guard, Nedeljko Matić, was also charged in this case, but ran away. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The trial started in October 2015. The verdict can be appealed, BIRN reports.
(FENA) S. R.
