The Appellate Division Panel of Section I for War Crimes at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the criminal case against the accused Milorad Radaković and Goran Pejić, handed down a judgment dismissing as ill-founded the appeal filed by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so the trial judgment delivered by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. S1 1 K 019060 15 Kri of 15 May 2018, is upheld.
Pursuant to Article 284, Subparagraph c) of the BiH Criminal Procedure Code (hereinafter: the CPC BiH), the trial judgment No. S1 1 K 019060 15 Kri of 15 May 2018 acquitted the accused Milorad Radaković and Goran Pejić of the charges that by the acts described in the indictment they committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172(1)h) as read with Subparagraph a) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all in conjunction with Article 180(1) and Article 29 of the same Code. By the same judgment, pursuant to Article 189(1) of the CPC BiH, the accused were relieved of the obligation to reimburse the costs of criminal proceeding, while the aggrieved parties, pursuant to Article 198(3) of the CPC BiH, were advised to pursue their compensation claims in civil proceedings.
The trial judgment was timely appealed by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the grounds of essential violations of criminal procedure, as well as incorrectly or incompletely established facts, moving the Appellate Division Panel of the Court of BiH to grant the appeal, overturn the trial judgment, and order a retrial.
Responses to the Prosecutor’s appeal were timely filed by defense counsel, with identical motions that the Appellate Division Panel dismiss the appeal as ill-founded.
Pursuant to Article 304 of the CPC BiH, on 24 October 2018 the Appellate Division Panel held a session, at which the Prosecutor briefly presented the content of his appeal, stressing he fully stood by his appellate grievances, as well as the Motion made in the appeal. Defense counsel also briefly presented their responses to the Prosecutor’s appeal, standing by their arguments and motions presented in writing.
