The Appellate Panel of the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH sentenced Safet Isaković to four years in prison for the war crime committed against a captured member of the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) in July 1995 in the area of Bosanska Krupa.
Isaković was convicted of ordering the killing of a captured unknown Serbian soldier in July 1995 in the municipality of Bosanska Krupa, during a military operation in the wider area of the Ćorkovača hill.
“In the second part of the verdict, the accused was acquitted of criminal charges for the murder of another NN soldier of the VRS because it was not proven,” the Supreme Court announced.
The indictment of the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of the Una-Sana Canton accuses Isaković of killing a prisoner as the commander of the Intervention and Sabotage Platoon “Gazije” in the 505th Bužim Brigade of the BiH Army.
In July 1995, during operations in the area of Ćorkovača, in the Dry Border area, this platoon occupied the positions of abandoned UNPROFOR containers.
According to the indictment, one of the VRS soldiers surrendered in the dugout and lay on the ground without a weapon, and Isaković fired several bullets at him and killed him, and when he came out of the dugout, he said that “this is how it is resolved”.
Isaković was acquitted by the Cantonal Court in Bihać in the first-instance proceedings, and by the decision of the Supreme Court of November 4, 2021, the judgment was annulled and the case was sent back for a retrial.
In the renewed first-instance proceedings, Isaković was acquitted of the charges by the judgment of the Cantonal Court in Bihać dated February 17, 2022.
The Supreme Court of FBiH canceled the first-instance verdict for the second time, and ordered a trial before the Appellate Division of this court.
The right to appeal exists in relation to the convicting part of the verdict, while the acquittal is final, BIRN reported.