Three convicts for war crimes committed in Zecovi near Prijedor were not found at their residential addresses after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) ordered their detention during the first-instance verdict.
The Court of BiH says that they received a report from the Court Police that on December 23rd this year, the accused Zoran Milunic was arrested and taken to the Vojkovici Institute for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, Detention and Other Measures.
“While for the other defendants, the court received information that they were not found at their residential addresses,” the Court of BiH states.
In addition to Zoran Milunic, the Court ordered Dusan Milunic, Zoran Stojnic, and Ilija Zoric to be detained during the first-instance verdict on December 22nd, while Ljubisa Cetic was ordered to be restrained. As they stated, after passing the decision on custody, the Court issued an order for the arrest of the four accused and an order to the Border Police to stop them if any of them tried to cross the state border.
None of the accused attended the sentencing.
As the reason for the non-appearance of the defendants, their defense attorneys stated that they were not required to attend the sentencing. Savan Zec said that Dusan Milunic was a suspect in a new case and that his phone had been switched off since the recent call from the Prosecutor’s Office. Slobodan Peric said that his client Ljubisa Cetic was recently released from serving a 15-year prison sentence.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH pointed out that during the main trial and further proceedings, the Court of BiH was responsible for ensuring the presence of the accused and that it had previously canceled the custody of all the accused, which lasted from November 2014 to June 2016.
“After the conclusion of the main trial, the Court is the one who ex officio monitors the presence of the accused in the proceedings, and the Prosecution did not have any knowledge that would constitute reasons prescribed by law for proposing a detention measure at that stage of the proceedings,” added the Prosecution.
After almost nine years of trial, the Court of BiH sentenced Dusan Milunic to 12 years, Ilija Zoric to 20, Zoran Stojnic to eight, Zoran Milunic to 14, and Ljubisa Cetic to five years in prison for crimes against humanity due to persecution by murder, forced relocation and inhumane acts. With this verdict, Radovan Cetic, Zeljko Grbic, Bosko and Rade Grujicic, Uros Grujcic, and Rajko Gnjatovic were acquitted, Detektor writes.
E.Dz.
