Persons indicted

1

Rank(s) of person(s) indicted

lower military

Indictment date

03/31/2014

Case stage

finally settled

Duration of proceedings since trial commencement

1 year 11 months

Witnesses examined

4

Date and outcome of the first instance verdict

03/20/2015

First-instance judgment:
The Higher Court’s trial chamber found defendant B. P. K. guilty of war crime against civilian population and sentenced him to 2 years in prison.

Date and outcome of decision on appeal

06/10/2015

Decision on appeal:
Having found that the first-instance court had infringed the defendant’s right to present his case by denying him the right to examine the victim, the Appellate Court ordered new trial.

Date and outcome of verdict in new trial

11/05/2015

Judgment upon repeated proceedings:
On 5 November 2015, the Higher Court’s trial chamber released the defendant from charges due to lack of evidence.

Additional info

Decision on appeal

03/28/2016

Appellate Court’s decision: judgment of acquittal confirmed

Criminal offence

war crime against civilian population under art. 142 (1) of the FRY Criminal Act

Background facts

Background facts:
According to the indictment allegations, the accused, in his capacity as member of the Republic of Srpska’s Army, was serving as a guard in Luka, a detention camp based in Brčko, BH. On 10 May 1992, the accused allegedly maltreated M. B., a Bosniak civilian detained in the camp, by subjecting him to grave psychological torture and repeated beatings.

Procedural remarks

The Luka Camp case is based on the criminal proceedings originally initiated before the Basic District Court in Brčko, BH. On 18 February 2014, the Office of the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor took over the prosecution in this case, which was referred to it in accordance with the Agreement on Legal Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters concluded between Serbia and BH.