Brothers Goran and Zoran Damjanovic, who have been sentenced to 12-and-a-half years for crimes in Bojnik near Sarajevo, have been released from prison on parole, the Bosnian Court said.
The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH, confirms a verdict under which Goran and Zoran Damjanovic were sentenced to a total of 12-and-a-half years in prison for having committed war crimes against the civilian population in the Sarajevo area.
At the renewed trial against Goran and Zoran Damjanovic, who are charged with war crimes, the Defence teams call for verdicts of release or minimal sentences according to the former Yugoslav law in the event that they are found guilty. The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina calls for an imprisonment sentence.
The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina neither decided on whether war crimes trials should be renewed completely due to the wrong application of the law nor if convicts sentenced to long-term imprisonment should be released to liberty, says the Court President Valerija Galic.
Defence attorneys of convicts sentenced for genocide and war crimes before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina announce that proceedings will be renewed in many more cases due to the wrong application of the Criminal Code.
The release to liberty of ten war crimes and genocide convicts has brought war-crimes victims into a situation whereby they have become victims of the system nearly 20 years after the war. In order to prevent that from happening, they call on the judges of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to resign.
The new trial of Goran Damjanovic and Zoran Damjanovic is due to begin on November 21, when the indictment will be read and introductory statements presented. At the same hearing the Court will begin hearing witnesses’ statements.