Today, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed down an aggravated verdict in which Zoran Ilić was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and Radenko Ilić was acquitted of war crimes against the civilian population.
As members of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), they are accused of crimes against humanity.
The indictment charges that in the period from the end of May 1992 to the end of 1993 in the municipality of Rogatica, as part of a wide and systematic attack by the army of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then by the army of the RS, directed against the non-Serb civilian population in the area of the municipality of Rogatica, they acted contrary to the rules of the international rights. They are accused of taking a group of Bosniak civilians from the Rudo settlement in Rogatica on June 19, 1992, and they have been missing since then.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated in its closing statement that it proved that Zoran and Radenko Ilić, as members of the Rogatic Brigade of the VRS, participated in a wide and systematic attack and that they should be found guilty of the forced disappearance of 16 men from the settlement of Rudo.
The defense of Zoran Ilic assessed that the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not prove that the accused participated in the forced disappearance of a group of men, stating that he was working in a bakery that day, while the defense of the second accused, Radenko Ilic, stated that none of the Bosniak witnesses said that he was killed that day saw when the action was. The defense of the accused requested an acquittal.
Today’s verdict can be appealed.
