The Appellate Panel of Section I for War Crimes of the Court of BiH has delivered the second-instance verdict in the case of Ranko Vuković et al. acquitting the accused Ranko and Rajko Vuković of the charges that they committed the criminal offence of Crimes against Humanity.

Based on all of the presented evidence the Panel unequivocally concluded that at the time of the commission of the criminal offence there was a widespread and systematic attack by the RS army, police and paramilitary forces directed, primarily, at the Bosniak civilian population in the territory of the Foča municipality, and that the relevant incident took place at that time, which is when four armed persons killed two civilians of Bosniak ethnicity in the village of Potkolun, after which they headed towards the village of Utulovići.

However, the defense challenged the issue of the identification and direct criminal liability of the accused Vuković on the critical occasion.

In line with the foregoing, the Panel concluded that with reference to the charges at issue the evidence adduced by the prosecution does not have the necessary probative value that it was the accused who committed the criminal offences charged against them by the amended Indictment. Therefore, having applied the in dubio pro reo rule, which is when in doubt act to the benefit of the accused, the Panel acquitted them.

The accused Ranko and Rajko Vuković are acquitted of the charges that on an unidentified day, in late May 1992, together with two more persons, armed with automatic weapons, they came to Potkolun, the municipality of Foča, stopped in front of a family house owned by individuals of Bosniak ethnicity, and by using their weapons they deprived the life of those individuals. The accused left the village and while going along the road and using their fire arms they deprived the life of one more person of Bosniak ethnicity in a meadow, and then they went in an unidentified direction.

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