Cases in trial or on appeal against verdict

Documents 15.04.2008. Pekez Mirko and Others First instance 29.09.2008. Pekez Mirko and Others Second instance 05.05.2009. Pekez Mirko and Others Second instance All documents are in PDF format. In order to view them you need Adobe Acrobat reader.

Factual grounds of the Indictment:

The Indictment states that the Accused, during the state of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the armed conflict in the territory of the Municipality of Jajce, as members of the Army of Republika Srpska and the Reserve Police Force, on 10 September 1992, as an organized group of armed people, having agreed on a plan to round up Bosniak civilians located in the settlement of Ljoljići-Čerkazovići, Jajce Municipality, with the intent to take them away and kill them at the location known as Tisovac, armed with automatic and semi-automatic weapons, unlawfully arrested and forcefully took Bosniak civilians out of their houses and rounded them up at the location known as Osoje, then took all of them to the location known as Tisovac, where they ordered the civilians to line up next to the edge of an abyss, and when they did it, the Accused started firing bursts at them, killing 23 and wounding four persons.

Counts of the Indictment:

Mirko Pekez, a.k.a. Guzan, Mirko Pekez, a.k.a. Peka, and Milorad Savić, a.k.a Mića, are charged with the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians in violation of Article 173 (1) (c) and (f) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CC BiH) as follows:

c)      killings, intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon a person (torture), inhuman treatment, and

f)        property confiscation, pillaging,

in conjunction with Article 29 and Article 180 (1) of the CC BiH.

Course of the proceedings:

The Court confirmed the Indictment on 28 November 2007.  On 11 December 2007, the Accused pleaded not guilty to all counts of the Indictment. The main trial commenced on 8 February 2008.

On 5 May 2009. the Appellate Panel of the Section I for War Crimes of the Court pronunced the Verdict in the Mirko Pekez et al. (X-KRŽ-06/96-1) case by which the Accused Mirko (Špiro) Pekez and Milorad Savić were found guilty of the criminal offence of War Crimes against Civilians specifically the Accused Pekez was found guilty of having participated as an accessory and the Accused Savić as a co-perpetrator in the perpetration of the criminal offence in question. In that regard, the Court sentenced the Accused Mirko (Špiro) Pekez to 14 years of imprisonment while the Accused Milorad Savić was sentenced to a long-term imprisonment of 21 years.