The Appellate Panel of the Supreme Court of the Federation handed down a guilty verdict against Ismet Zec, Ejub Haskicand Hamdo Petak, former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), for the war crime against the civilian population committed in the area of Novi Travnik in 1993.
Ismet Zec was sentenced to three, Ejub Haskic to one, and Hamdo Petak to one year and six months in prison, it was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Federation.
According to the indictment of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, which was filed in December 2017, Hamdo Petak aka Hamdija, Ismet Zec and Ejub Haskic aka Juka for about four months in the spring and summer of 1993, during the conflict between the Army of BiH and the Croatian Defense Council illegally captured civilians of Croatian nationality, most of whom were from the village of Senkovici, and they tortured and abusedthem.
They took prisoners to forced labor, threatening them with execution. On several occasions, as stated, they continuously and systematically abused prisoners and inflicted severe physical injuries and disabilities.
Irsan Kukic, Hamdo Petak’s defense attorney, said that they have not yet received the verdict of the Supreme Court of the Federation, but that, after receiving it, they will most likely appeal to the Constitutional Court of BiH.
“There is no evidence that my client even committed the criminal offense he is charged with, but the Court ignores those facts,” pointed out Kukic.
He recalled how the Supreme Court of the Federation, after appeals, annulled the first-instance verdict of the Cantonal Court in Novi Travnik from 2019 – by which Zec, Petak and Haskicwere found guilty and sentenced to prison terms of four, two and one years – and ordered the procedure to be repeated. In the repeated proceedings, the three were again found guilty and sentenced to the same terms of imprisonment. After the appeals of the lawyers, the Supreme Court of the Federation again annulled the verdict and ordered a trial before the Chamber of this Court, after which it issued the final verdict, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
