Miladin Gašević and Jadranko Šuka, who were sentenced on Monday – in a non-final verdict – to 15 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for crimes committed in Novoseoci near Sokolac, have been taken into custody and transferred to a detention facility.
Miladin Gašević and Šuka did not appear in court on Monday for the pronouncement of the verdict, at which point the Court issued an order for their detention, reported Detektor.
In addition to them, Momčilo Pajić was sentenced to 20 years for the crimes in Novoseoci, while Branislav Kezunović, Željko Gašević, and Nikola Koprivica were each sentenced to 12 years; all were taken into custody following the delivery of the verdict.
“Following the pronouncement of the verdict, all defendants found guilty – namely Momčilo Pajić, Miladin Gašević, Branislav Kezunović, Željko Gašević, Jadranko Šuka, and Nikola Koprivica—were taken into custody pursuant to a decision by the Court of BiH and transferred to the State Prison (Institution for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Detention, and Other Measures of BiH) to serve their detention,” the Court of BiH stated in a response.
Pajić was found guilty in his capacity as commander of the Military Police. According to the verdict, Miladin Gašević, Željko Gašević, Kezunović, and Šuka – all former members of a reconnaissance company – along with former military policeman Nikola Koprivica, were part of a group tasked with carrying out liquidations. In September 1992, 44 men were killed in Novoseoci, while the women and children were deported. The Chamber concluded that the objective of the operation in Novoseoci was the ethnic cleansing of a population that had previously surrendered its weapons and remained loyal to the authorities in Sokolac.
In the first-instance verdict, Dragomir Obradović and Aleksa Gordić were acquitted, Detektor writes.
