In the criminal case against the accused Elvir Muminović, Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović, the Appellate Division Panel of Section I for War Crimes at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a decision granting the appeal filed by defense counsel for the accused Elvir Muminović, and, along the same line, applied Article 309 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also in relation to the accused Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović, so the judgment delivered by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. S1 1 K 023906 17 Kri of 5 July 2018 is revoked, and a trial is ordered before the Appellate Division Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The trial judgment of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. S1 1 K 023906 17 Kri of 5 July 2018, found the accused Elvir Muminović, Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović guilty of the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians under Article 142(1) as read with Article 22 of the adopted Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (CC SFRY), so that, in application of Articles 33, 38 and 41 of the CC SFRY, they are sentenced as follows: the accused Elvir Muminović to 6 (six) years of imprisonment, and the accused Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović to 5 (five) years of imprisonment each.
Within the same judgment, pursuant to Article 198(2) of the CPC BiH, in conjunction with Articles 200 and 202 of the Law of Obligations, also granted was the compensation claim put forward by the aggrieved party, so the accused Elvir Muminović, Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović are now under the obligation to jointly and severally pay the aggrieved party the total amount of 50,000.00 KM as non-material damage compensation, within 30 (thirty) days of the day when the judgment became final, under the threat of enforcement.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH duly filed an appeal from the judgment on the grounds of the decision on the sanction, and moved the Panel of the Court’s Appellate Division to revise the contested Trial Judgment by imposing on the accused Elvir Muminović, Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović a sentence of imprisonment lengthier than the one imposed under the trial judgment.
Defense counsel for the accused Elvir Muminović, Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović duly filed appeals from the trial judgment on the grounds of essential violations of the criminal procedure provisions, violation of the Criminal Code, incorrectly and incompletely established state of facts, decision on the criminal sanction and the claim under property law, and moved the Appellate Panel to grant the appeals and revoke the contested judgment, or revise it by acquitting the accused.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH filed a response to the appeals lodged by defense counsel for the accused, moving the Appellate Panel to dismiss the appeals as ill-founded.
The respective defense counsel for all accused filed responses to the Prosecutor’s Office’s appeal, moving the Court to dismiss it as ill-founded.
At a session of the Appellate Panel held on 30 November 2018, pursuant to Article 304 of the CPC BiH, the Prosecutor and defense counsel for the accused Elvir Muminović, Samir Kešmer and Mirsad Menzilović briefly presented their appeal grievances and their respective responses to the appeals filed.
