prijava
BELGRADE/SARAJEVO, September 24 (FENA) - A court in Belgrade jailed former Bosnian Serb fighter Željko Budimir for two years for assaulting and robbing a Bosniak civilian in Bosnia’s Ključ municipality during wartime in November 1992.
Belgrade Higher Court on Tuesday sentenced Bosnian Serb ex-fighter Željko Budimir to two years in prison for beating up a Bosnian civilian and stealing his money in the village of Rejzovići in the Ključ municipality in November 1992.
But the court acquitted Budimir of participating in the murders of the Bosniak man’s wife and mother, stated BIRN BiH.
According to the indictment, Budmir was one of three fighters who broke into the house of Ale Štrkonjić in Rejzovići at around 11pm on November 21, 1992, and beat him up and stabbed him. Štrkonjić gave the men the money they were demanding – some 5,800 German marks – and then escaped. One of the two other fighters who was with Budmir approached Štrkonjić’s wife Fatima, pulled out his gun and shot her in the head, then killed her mother, Fata Koljić, with a knife, the indictment alleged.
However, the court cleared Budmir of involvement in the killings, with judge Vinka Beraha Nikčević saying that there was not enough evidence to convict him.
“The prosecutor did not describe what actions Željko Budimir took with the aim of depriving Fatima Štrkonjić and Fata Koljić of their lives, so it cannot be determined what actions he took that contributed to them being deprived of their lives,” said Beraha Nikčević.
The judge said that the two-year sentence was imposed because Budmir was young when the crime was committed and now has three children, and because a lot of time has passed since the incident.
The indictment did not specify to which military group or unit the defendant belonged.
The two other men involved, Predrag Bajić and Mladenko Vrtunić, were convicted of the murders of the two women and the attack on Štrkonjić by the cantonal court in Bihać in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014.
As Budimir lives in Serbia, his case was tranfered to Belgrade, where his trial started in April 2018.
This is a first-instance verdict and can be appealed.
(FENA) A. B.
