Persons indicted

/

Rank(s) of person(s) indicted

Defendant's rank: lower military

Indictment date

06/04/2014

Case stage

Finally resolved

Duration of proceedings since trial commencement

2 years 3 months

Witnesses examined

6

Date and outcome of the first instance verdict

11/24/2015

First-instance judgment:
Acquittal of charges due to lack of evidence
Pursuant to judgment K. Po2 10/15, rendered on 24 November 2015 before the Belgrade Higher Court’s War Crimes Department, defendant AA was released from charges of engaging as a co-perpetrator in the criminal offence under article 142 (1) (war crime against civilian population) of the FRY Criminal Act.

Date and outcome of decision on appeal

09/26/2016

Pursuant to its judgment (KžI Po2 1/16) rendered following the trial of 26 September 2016, the Appellate Court in Belgrade - War Crimes Chamber rejected the War Crimes Prosecutor's appeal as unfounded and upheld the first instance judgment.
In the Appellate Court's opinion, the lower court correctly applied the provision of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulating that a convicting verdict can only be based on the facts of whose certainty the court has been satisfied, and found that the overall evidence presented in the particular case did not provide reliable grounds for the conclusion that defendant AA had engaged in the particular war crime as a co-perpetrator, and consequently acquitted him of charges.

Date and outcome of verdict in new trial

11/24/2015

The defendant was acquitted of all charges due to the lack of evidence; The OWCP lodged an appeal against the judgment.

Criminal offence

war crime against civilian population under article 142 (1) in re article 22 (co-perpetration) of the FRY Criminal Act

Background facts

Procedural remarks

Procedural remarks:
Originally instituted by the BH authorities, proceedings against those accused in Bijeljina I and Bijeljina II were referred to Serbia pursuant to the Agreement on Legal Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters, concluded between the two states in 2005. One of the five defendants stood trial before the BH court, which convicted him in 2012.