The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed down a first-instance verdict in which seven former members of the RBiH Army were sentenced to a total of 36 years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population and prisoners of war in Bužim.
Vahid Bajrektarević was sentenced to 12 years in prison, Senad Salkić to eight, Zijad Nanić and Esad Kudelić to five years each, Husan Mustafić to three, and Samir and Husein Isaković to one and a half years in prison each. Nedžad Bapić was acquitted on all counts of the indictment, reports BIRN BiH.
They were found guilty of abusing civilians and prisoners of war in the improvised prison that was located in the former hotel “Radoč” in Bužim from November 1994 to August 1995, namely Nanić in his capacity as assistant commander for security of the 505th Bužim Brigade of the Fifth Corps of the ARBiH , Kudelić as the commander of the Military Police platoon in the command of the 505th Bužim Brigade, and Bajrektarević, Salkić, Mustafić, and Samir and Husein Isaković, as members of the Military Police of that brigade.
Crimes were committed against captured members of the Army of the Republika Srpska and the National Defense of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (NOAPZB) and sympathizers of the NOAPZB.
Bajrektarević, who was the only one of the accused who did not appear at the sentencing, will have the time spent in custody included in his sentence.
Prosecutor Vedrana Mijović, after the sentencing, requested that all convicted persons be banned from traveling and leaving their place of residence. The presiding judge of the Judicial Council, Darko Samardžić, said that the Court will subsequently make a decision on that proposal.
The trial in this case began on March 15, 2016.
Mehmed Alešević was accused with them, but the proceedings against him were separated, and in 2022 he was sentenced to five years in prison.
This verdict can be appealed to the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Detektor reports.
