Appellate Division Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered an appeals judgment in the case of Suad Smajlović et al. entirely refusing as ill-founded the appeal filed by defense counsel for the accused Suad Smajlović from the judgment handed down by the Court of BiH on 14 September 2018.
The appeal filed by the BiH Prosecutor’s Office was granted in the part related to the criminal sanction imposed on the accused Suad Smajlović, so the challenged judgment is modified in that part in the manner that the accused Suad Smajlović is now sentenced to 3 (three) years of imprisonment concerning the criminal offense under Section 4 of the Trial Judgment, War Crimes against Civilians under Article 142 of the SFRY Criminal Code (CC SFRY). In the remaining part the Prosecutor’s appeal was denied as ill-founded, and the trial judgment was upheld.
The trial judgment of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina dated 14 September 2018 found the accused Izet Arifović and Suad Smajlović guilty of the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians under Article 142(1) of the CC SFRY. The accused Izet Arifović was sentenced to 10 (ten) years of imprisonment, and the accused Suad Smajlović to 1 (one) year and 2 (two) months of imprisonment. The accused Suad Smajlović was acquitted of the charges described under Count 3 of the Indictment, and the accused Amir Salihović under Count 5 of the Indictment, whereby they would have committed the criminal offense under Article 142 of the CC SFRY – War Crimes against Humanity.
On 26 February 2019, the Court issued a decision terminating the criminal proceeding in relation to the accused Izet Arifović on account of his death.
