prijava
SARAJEVO, April 10 (FENA) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found former Bosnian Serb Army serviceman Đorđe Simić not guilty of crimes against humanity, clearing him of killing a Bosniak man in the village of Sevarlije in 1992.
The state court in Sarajevo found Đorđe Simić not guilty on Tuesday, ruling that the prosecution had not proved beyond reasonable doubt that he killed the Bosniak man after seizing him from a field in Ševarlije, near the town of Doboj, on June 12, 1992, BIRN reports.
The prosecution had alleged that Simić, accompanied by another soldier, took Mustafa Osmanbegović from the field in Ševarlije to a military barracks.
Osmanbegović has been missing ever since, and his body has not been found.
“The only fact established by the chamber is that the defendant participated in taking Mustafa Osmanbegović away, which was also confirmed by witnesses, but the defendant’s awareness [of the crime] and [his] intent remains in the domain of assumptions,” said the presiding judge Željka Marenić.
Marenić said the defendant and defense witnesses testified that Osmanbegović was taken to the military barracks, handed over to the commander and kept there for several days.
She said there was no evidence that Simić knew what would happen to Osmanbegović after having brought him to the barracks.
“On the basis of the pieces of evidence that were presented, it has not been possible to determine that his actions constituted a part of a widespread and systematic attack. The chamber is of the opinion that the important elements of a crime against humanity have not been proved,” Marenić added.
The verdict can be appealed.
(FENA) S. R.
