By the verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina number: X-KR-05/24 of 29 July 2008, the Accused Miloš Stupar, Milenko Trifunović, Brano Džinić, Aleksandar Radovanović, Slobodan Jakovljević and Branislav Medan, were found guilty of having committed the criminal offences in the manner as described under Sections 1 and 2 of the operative part of the first instance verdict, wherein the Accused Milenko Trifunović, Aleksandar Radovanović, Brano Džinić, Slobodan Jakovljević and Branislav Medan, by their actions as co-perpetrators, committed the criminal offence of Genocide in violation of Article 171(a) in conjunction with Articles 29 and 180(1) of the Criminal Code of BiH (CC of BiH), while the Accused Miloš Stupar committed the criminal offence of Genocide in violation of Article 171(a) in conjunction with Article 180 (2) of the CC of BiH.

The first instance verdict acquitted Milovan Matić, Velibor Maksimović and Dragiša Živanović of the charges that they committed the criminal offence of Genocide in violation of Article 171 of the CC of BiH in conjunction with Articles 29 and 180(1) of the CC of BiH.

Pursuant to Article 285 of the BiH Criminal Procedure Code (CPC of BiH), with the application of Articles 39, 42, 48 of the CC of BiH, the Court sentenced the Accused to a long-term imprisonment, as follows: the accused Miloš Stupar to 40 years, the accused Milenko Trifunović to 42 years, the accused Brano Džinić to 42 years, the accused Aleksandar Radovanović to 42 years, the accused Slobodan Jakovljević to 40 years and the accused Branislav Medan to 40 years.

Having reviewed the first-instance verdict insofar as contested in the appeals, the Appellate Panel refused as unfounded the appeal filed by the Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and upheld the trial verdict with regard to the accused Milovan Matić.

Having examined the grounds for appeal filed by the Defense Counsel for the Accused Miloš Stupar, stating that the Trial Panel committed an essential violation of the provisions of criminal procedure under Article 297(1)(k) of the CPC BiH (the Verdict's Operative Part is incomprehensible and contradicts the grounds provided in the Reasoning of the Verdict), the Appellate Panel finds that this ground of appeal is well-founded. As a result, the Appellate Panel finds that there is doubt about the correctness of the established facts in relation to the Accused Stupar.

Therefore, the Appellate Panel granted the appeal of the defense counsel for the accused Miloš Stupar, revoked the trial Verdict in relation to the Accused Stupar and ordered a retrial before the panel of the Appellate Division of Section I of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The appeals of the defense counsels for the accused Milenko Trifunović, Brane Džinić, Aleksandar Radovanović, Slobodan Jakovljević, Branislav Medan and the accused Branislav Medan personally were granted in part, and the Trial Verdict altered in relation to these accused in terms of the legal evaluation and legal qualification of the criminal offense. The Appellate Panel found that by the killing of a group of Bosniaks these Accused aided in a partial extermination of the group on national, ethnic and religious grounds, whereby they committed the criminal offense of Genocide in violation of Article 171(a) of the CC BiH, in conjunction with Article 31 of the same Code, which is reflected in the sentence imposed. Therefore, the Appellate Verdict imposed the sentences of long-term imprisonment of 33 (thirty three) years on the accused Milenko Trifunović, of 32 (thirty two) years on the accused Brano Džinić, of 32 (thirty two) years on the accused Aleksandar Radovanović, of 28 (twenty eight) years on the accused Slobodan Jakovljević, and of 28 (twenty eight) years on the accused Branislav Medan.

Based on the established facts, the Appellate Panel found that it is possible to conclude beyond any reasonable doubt that, at the time when the crime was perpetrated, the Accused Trifunović, Džinić, Radovanović, Jakovljević and Medan, being aware of the existence of the genocidal plan of others, performed the actions by which they considerably contributed to the commission of that offence, therefore they participated in the criminal offence of Genocide as accessories. 

However, in this particular case, the Accused remained to be accessories through their actions of perpetration only because it follows from the presented evidence that it cannot be inferred beyond a reasonable doubt that the Accused, by taking the action of commission of which they were found guilty, acted with genocidal intent.

Specifically, this Panel finds it indisputable that genocide was committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. Due to its nature, that crime could not have been committed by a single individual, but it had to include an active participation of a number of persons, each of whom having a role. However, it is evident that not all participants in the events in Srebrenica at the referenced time acted with the identical state of mind, nor did they take the same actions.

The Court’s role in this particular case is to establish the criminal responsibility of every Accused person individually, considering their actions, purport and intent.

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