APPEAL AGAINST ACQUITTING JUDGMENT FILED IN VELIKI PARK CASE

The Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes in charge of the case has filed an Appeal with the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, against the first-instance acquittal of four (4) persons charged with the criminal offence of War Crimes against Prisoners of War, referred to in the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Appeal has been filed due to the state of facts being erroneously and incompletely established.

The defendants Dragan Vikić, Jusuf Pušina, Nermin Uzunović and Mladen Čovčić are charged with the crime committed in April 1992, which refers to the capture, killing and hiding of the bodies of eight (8) JNA members of Serb ethnicity. Mortal remains of the two of the killed JNA members were partially found, whereas the search for the remaining JNA members is still ongoing.

In the appeal, the Prosecutor has put an emphasis on the evidence and testimony of the witnesses accusing the defendants Dragan Vikić and Jusuf Pušina of command responsibility in terms of a superior-subordinate relationship, who were informed about the crime and then they failed to arrest, prosecute and sanction the perpetrators of the crime and to prevent the removal of evidence and hiding of the bodies. In relation to the defendants Nermin Uzunović and Mladen Čovčić, who are charged as individual perpetrators, the emphasis was placed on the criminal acts that they, as members of the Detachment’s Reserve Unit, committed together with members of the Detachment commanded by Dragan Vikić.

The Appeal requests that the First Instance Judgment be revoked and that the trial be rescheduled, as well as that these defendants be found guilty and punished in accordance with the law.

The Appeal has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.