SUD BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE СУД БОСНЕ И ХЕРЦЕГОВИНЕ Number: X-KR-05/04 Sarajevo, 11 July 2006 IN THE NAME OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Panel comprised of Judges Dragomir Vukoje, as the Presiding Judge, Richard Gebelein and Georges Reniers as the members of the Panel, with the participation of Legal Officer Šaćir Hadžić, as the record-taker, in the criminal case against the accused Boban Šimšić, for the criminal offence of Crime against Humanity in violation of Article 172 (1) (h) in conjunction with items a), d), e), f), g), i) and k) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: CC of BiH), deciding upon the Indictment of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina No. KT-RZ-2/05 dated 28 June 2005, confirmed on 8 July 2005, following the oral and public main trial a part of which was closed to the public,, on 11 July 2006, in the presence of Ibro Bulić, the Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the accused Boban Šimšić in person and his defence counsel Veljko Ćivša, an attorney from Sokolac, rendered and publicly announced the following V E R D I C T The accused BOBAN ŠIMŠIĆ, son of Slobodan and mother Jelena, nee Mosić, born in Višegrad on 17 December 1967, with permanent residence in …, Municipality of …, … by ethnicity, police officer by occupation, completed secondary education - locksmith, married, father of two minor children, served the military in 1986 in Štip, registered in the military records of the Municipal Department of the Ministry of Defence in Višegrad, has not been decorated, indigent, no previous convictions, no other criminal proceedings pending against him, citizen of …, personal ID number …, held in custody since 24 January 2005 I. IS HEREBY FOUND GUILTY Because During the time of a widespread and systematic attack of the Serb Army, Police, and paramilitary Serb formations directed against the Bosniak civilian population in the territory of the Višegrad Municipality, in the period from April to July 1992, he assisted in the enforced disappearance of persons and assisted in the rape, inasmuch as he 5.b) On an undetermined date, in the second half of June 1992, he assisted Milan Lukić and other members of the Serb Army, Police and paramilitary formations in taking away the imprisoned Bosniak civilian, namely Ismet Bulatović, Šemso Poljo, Eniz Smajić from the premises of the Elementary School Hasan Veletovac in Višegrad where the civilians were imprisoned, after which they have been unaccounted for; 5.e) During the second half of June 1992, at night time the accused singled out girls and young women who were unlawfully held captive in the premises of the Elementary School Hasan Veletovac and took them away in order to procure them to other members of the Serb Army, who carried out multiple rapes, beating and humiliation of several female persons, including Latifa Hodžić, Fata Šabanović, Naila Ahmetagić, nee Ramić, Amira Nuhanović a.k.a. Dada, Razija Hurem, Senada Hurem, Zineta Murtić, Mula Užičanin, Alma Hafizović; Therefore, By actions described under Counts 5.b) and 5.e) of this Verdict, as part of the widespread and systematic attack directed against the Bosniak civilian population, being aware of such attack, he assisted the members of the Serb Army in carrying out enforced disappearance of persons and assisted the members of the Serb Army in coercing another by force or by threat of immediate attack upon his limb to sexual intercourse or an equivalent sexual act (rape), - whereby he committed the criminal offence of Crimes against Humanity in violation of Article 172 (1) of the CC of BiH in conjunction with item i) – in relation to the Section I.5.b) of the operative part – and item g) in relation to the Section I.5.e) of the operative part, all in conjunction with Article 31 (Accessory) of the CC of BiH, and therefore pursuant to the quoted legal regulations and applying the provisions of Articles 39, 42, 48, 49, 50 and 56 of the CC of BiH, the Court is hereby S E N T E N C ING H I M To imprisonment of 5 (five) years which shall include the time the accused spent in custody starting on 24 January 2006 onwards. By virtue of Article 188 (4) of the CPC of BiH, the accused shall be relieved of the duty to reimburse the costs of the criminal proceedings. Pursuant to Article 198 (1) of the CPC of BiH, the injured parties: Nail Ramić, Ibrumša Agić, Cura Gluščević, Hedija Hodžić, Naila Ahmetagić, Hasena Bajramović, Vasvija Gluščević, Hajrija Kapetanović, Almasa Ahmetspahić, Hamdo Ahmetspahić, Almir Aljić, Salem Ahmetspahić, Ibro Memić, Mula Užičanin, Fehima Čakić, Sajma Šabanović, Rusmira Bulatović, Fatima Poljo, Latifa Hodžić, Kada Spahić, Fata Šabanović, Ševka Šehić, Razija Hurem, Timka Kapetanović, Haša Hadžić and Ramiza Šabanović shall be referred to civil action concerning their claims under property law. II. Pursuant to the provision of Article 284 (c) of the CPC of BiH, the accused Boban Šimšić 2 Sud Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo, ul. Kraljice Jelene br. 88; Telefon ++ 387 33 707 100; Fax: ++ 387 33 707 227 IS ACQUITTED OF CHARGES That 1.b) On 17 June 1992, together with a group of several members of the Serb Army and Police, armed with rifles, he participated in the attack and unlawful arrest and incarceration of several dozens of civilians from the village of Žlijeb, amongst whom there were women, children and men, having first fired rifles at the Bosniak houses, after which they ordered them to leave their houses and property and gather at the location of Carina, where they crammed them into the trucks and transported to the premises of the Firehouse in Višegrad, where they held them captive; 2. On 18 June 1992, around 10:00 a.m, together, in a group of several members of the Serb Army and Police, armed with rifles, he participated in the attack on the village of Kuka in the Višegrad Municipality, and the arrest and unlawful imprisonment of several dozens of Bosniak civilians, including women, children, and men, by suddenly opening fire from their rifles at the Bosniak houses, setting ablaze the residential and business facilities owned by the Bosniaks, killing Omer Karišik and Redžo Šabanović after they had previously beaten them up, killing Mirsad Karišik a.k.a. “Kemo” during the attack, and finally taking away all the inhabitants of the Kuka village and incarcerating them in the Elementary School Hasan Veletovac in Višegrad; 3. On 25 July 1992, together, in a group consisting of approximately ten members of the Serb Army and Police, he participated in the attack on the village of Velji Lug in the Višegrad Municipality during which they, armed with rifles, killed Mediha Ahmetspahić, Amela Ahmetspahić, Razija Ahmetspahić, Fata Sućeska, Safet Aljić, Latifa Ahmetspahić, Smaila Memišević, set ablaze the houses and business facilities owned by Bosniaks and took away several dozens of the Bosniak civilians, including women, children and men, and unlawfully detained them in the premises of the Elementary School Hasan Veletovac in Višegrad; 4.a) On an undetermined date in the second half of June 1992, he took five girls and five young women, including Hedija Hodžić, out of the room in the Firehouse in Višegrad where the Bosniak civilians were detained, and took them to the adjoining room, beating them first with batons and kicking them together with two Serb soldiers and then, after all the girls and women had stripped naked upon his order, they raped them by turns, which lasted for two or three hours, on which occasion Hedija Hodžić sustained injuries to her head in the form of haematomas and bumps as well as injuries to genitals in the form of bleeding; 4.c) On 18 June 1992, together with Milan Lukić, he singled out the following Bosniak civilians from the room in the Firehouse in Višegrad in which they were previously unlawfully incarcerated: Mujo Gluščević, Hasan Gluščević, Hasib Gluščević, Meho Agić, Emin Agić, Meho Softić, Samir Softić, Mustafa Šabanović, Avdija Nuhanović, Sead Hodžić, Adem Kozić, Dželal Hodžić, Dževad Hodžić, Salko Sućeska, Huso Bulatović, Husein Vilić, Hamed Kešmer, Ibrahim Kešmer and took them to a location in the immediate vicinity of the Firehouse, since when they have been unaccounted for with the exception of Mujo Gluščević, Ibrahim Kešmer, Hamed Kešmer, Samir Softić, Emin Agić, Hasib Gluščević, Sead Hodžić, Huso Bulatović, Dželal Hodžić and Adem Kozić whose corpses were found during the exhumation at the location of Slap-Žepa; 3 Sud Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo, ul. Kraljice Jelene br. 88; Telefon ++ 387 33 707 100; Fax: ++ 387 33 707 227 5. In the second half of the month of June 1992, while performing the duty of the guard in charge of the Bosniak civilians imprisoned in the premises of the Elementary School Hasan Veletovac in Višegrad, several hundreds of them, including women, children and men, on his own and together with other members of the Serb Army, Police and paramilitary formations, he participated in killings, torture, infliction of severe physical or mental pain, appropriation of private property, coercing girls and young women to sexual intercourse in as much as he: 5.a) In the night of 28 June 1992, he and Milan Lukić killed Ibro Šabanović, a Bosniak civilian, whom they took out of the big room in which he was unlawfully imprisoned with other civilians, into the corridor, where Boban Šimšić held his head while Milan Lukić slit his throat with a knife after which they threw his severed head among the other imprisoned civilians; 5.c) On an undetermined date, in the second