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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 SARAJEVO 003069 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/WCI (WILLIAMSON, LAVINE), CIA FOR SHOEMAKER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ICTY KAWC PHUM PINR BK
SUBJECT: STATE COURT UPDATES PART ONE: WAR CRIMES CHAMBER 
 
REF: SARAJEVO 2725 
 
¶1.  INTRODUCTION: This is the first of two cables summarizing 
cases currently before the State Court of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina.  This cable summarizes war crimes cases.  Cases 
underway in the State Court Special Section for Organized 
Crime, Financial Crime and Corruption will be discussed 
septel.  These cables are intended to offer an overview of 
the Court and State Prosecutor's work in order to provide 
context for subsequent reporting on operational developments 
at the State Court.  These including the phased transition 
from mixed international/national to wholly national control 
and staffing, and the impact of justice sector reforms.  The 
U.S. currently provides roughly 40 percent of all 
international donor contributions to the State Court, the 
State Prosecutor's Office, and the Registry (court 
administration).  END INTRODUCTION. 
 
¶2. Legal and Structural Overview of the War Crimes Chamber: 
 
a. The State War Crimes Chamber hears three types of cases: 
 
(1)  Rule 11bis Cases 
 
Rule 11bis of the ICTY's procedural code allows for the 
transfer of cases involving ICTY indictments to courts in the 
former Yugoslavia for trial.  The State War Crimes Chamber of 
Bosnia opened in March 2005.  In October 2005, the ICTY sent 
Radovan Stankovic's case to the Chamber (see para. 3g).  This 
marked the first transfer of an 11bis case from the ICTY to 
any jurisdiction in the former Yugoslavia.  Since that time, 
the ICTY has transferred six more cases to Bosnia, and the 
State Prosecutor expects two others in the near term.  At the 
moment, there are five 11bis cases in some phase of 
adjudication before the Chamber, involving 9 defendants. 
11bis transferree and convicted war criminal Abduladhim 
Maktouf has exhausted his appeals and the verdict in that 
case is final (see para. 3d).  The ICTY is preparing to 
transfer co-defendants Milan and Sredoje Lukic to Bosnia 
before the end of the year (see para. 3c).  These transfers 
represent the ICTY's assessment that Bosnia is capable of 
trying war crimes cases in accordance with ICTY standards. 
 
(2)  'Rules of the Road' Cases 
 
These are cases where the ICTY Prosecutor's Office declined 
to indict in The Hague, but recommended the Bosnian State 
Prosecutor pursue the case.  There are 10 cases currently in 
some phase of adjudication before the court, involving 11 
defendants.  The ICTY Prosecutor's Office has also sent the 
State Prosecutor over 150 cases for review, investigation and 
possible indictment, and the Prosecutor's office expects to 
receive 20 additional ICTY referrals in the next few months. 
Case files arrive in varying states of completion, and some 
require considerable investigation before the Prosecutor's 
Office is able to decide whether there is sufficient evidence 
to charge a suspect.  The State Prosecutor has also referred 
over 90 'Rules of the Road' cases to lower courts in Bosnia 
for trial, involving more than 250 individuals. 
 
(3) Domestic Cases 
 
These are wholly domestically driven war crimes cases that 
the Chamber has accepted from lower courts, or that the State 
Prosecutor's office has initiated without ICTY involvement. 
There are currently two such cases before the Chamber, with 
12 defendants.  An additional 126 cases are under 
investigation, involving 334 suspects. 
 
b. Cases are heard in the first instance by a three-judge 
panel in the War Crimes Chamber.  Each panel contains at 
least one national and one international judge.  Verdicts are 
reached by consensus.  In accordance with the Bosnian Code of 
Criminal Procedure, verdicts must be rendered orally within 
three days after the prosecutor and defense deliver final 
arguments, followed by a written decision within 30 days. 
Appeals are made to a different three-judge panel, also 
within the War Crimes Chamber.  Decisions of the appeals 
panels are final. 
 
 
SARAJEVO 00003069  002 OF 006 
 
 
¶3. Summary of Rule 11bis Cases 
 
a.  JANKOVIC, Gojko: (DPOB: 31 October 1954, Trbusce, Foca, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
The indictment alleges that, as leader of a paramilitary 
group, Jankovic ordered and participated in a large-scale and 
systematic attack on the non-Serb population in the Foca 
municipality region between April 1992 and February 1993.  He 
is accused (inter alia) of multiple specific instances of 
unlawful detention, killing, long-term enslavement and rape 
(of adult women and under-aged girls).  The defendant 
voluntarily surrendered on 13 March 2005 and was transferred 
to ICTY Detention unit in The Hague.  The ICTY transferred 
the case to Bosnian Courts in December 2005.  At the initial 
hearing in February 2006, Jankovic pleaded not guilty. The 
main trial has been underway since April 2006. 
 
b. LJUBICIC, Pasko (aka Toni Raic, DPOB: 15 November 1965, 
Nezirovici, Busovaca, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge:  Crimes Against Humanity 
 
According to the indictment, in 1993 Ljubicic commanded the 
First and Fourth Battalions of the HVO Military Police 
stationed in central Bosnia.  Acting on his orders, these 
battalions perpetrated widespread and systematic attacks on 
several villages and towns in the Vitez and Busovaca 
municipalities in central Bosnia.  Crimes committed by the 
police under his authority included unlawful detention, 
forced labor, wanton destruction of property (Bosniak homes 
and mosques) and mass murder.  Ljubicic was taken into 
custody in December 2005, and the ICTY transferred him to 
Bosnia on 22 September 2006.  His case is in the pre-trial 
phase. 
 
c. LUKIC, Milan (DPOB: 6 September 1967, Rujiste, Visegrad, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Co-Defendant: 
 
LUKIC, Sredoje (DPOB: 5 April 1961, Rujiste, Visegrad, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina) 
 
Charges: Crimes Against Humanity; Violating the Laws and 
Customs of War 
 
When the war started, Milan Lukic organized a local 
paramilitary group, sometimes called the 'White Eagles' or 
the 'Avengers.'  His cousin Sredoje, a Visegrad policeman 
before the war, was a member of this group.  The indictment 
describes specific murders of several small groups of Bosnian 
men committed by the group in June 2002.  The defendants are 
also accused of confining and burning alive two different 
groups of Bosniak women, children and elderly men in June 
¶1992.  There were a approximately 140 victims killed in this 
manner.  Only a handful of people survived.  Milan and 
Sredoje Lukic are currently in The Hague, where their appeal 
against an 11bis transfer to Bosnia is under review.  The 
State Prosecutor's Office expects that the appeal will be 
denied and the case transferred to Bosnia in early 2007. 
 
d. MAKTOUF, Abduladhim (DPOB: 3 January 1959, Basra, Iraq) 
 
Charge: War Crimes Against Civilians 
 
The first instance court in July 2005 found Maktouf guilty on 
the basis of his role in kidnapping and murdering five Croat 
civilians in Travnik in October 1993 while he was a soldier 
in the Al Mujahid brigade.  One of the civilians was 
beheaded.  The trial panel sentenced him to five years 
imprisonment.  The Court's appellate panel revoked the first 
instance verdict and ordered a partial retrial. As a result 
of the partial retrial, February-April 2006, he was again 
found guilty and given a five-year sentence.  Maktouf has 
exhausted his appeals and the verdict is final. 
 
e. MEJAKIC, Zeljko et al 
 
SARAJEVO 00003069  003 OF 006 
 
 
 
Defendants: 
 
Mejakic, Zeljko (DPOB: 2 August 1964, Petrov Gaj, Prijedor, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
Gruban, Momcilo (aka Ckalja; DPOB: 19 June 1961, Miracka, 
Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
Bosnia and Herzegovina Dusan (DPOB: 29 June 1954, Backo Dobro 
Polje, Vrbas, Vojvodina, Serbia) 
Knesevic, Dusko (aka Duka; DPOB: 17 June 1967, Orlovci, 
Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
The indictment alleges that from May to December 1992, 
Mejakic was the de facto commander and Gruban was a head 
guard at the Omarska Detention Camp, where they subjected the 
prisoners to inhuman treatment, torture, and sexual and 
psychological abuse.  They further ordered, supervised and 
participated in the beating to death of several prisoners 
over that time period.  Fustar was a head guard at the 
Keraterm Detention Camp May-August, 1992, where he 
participated in the periodic selection and execution of male 
detainees.  Knezevic, who had no official position at Omarska 
or Keraterm, was allegedly allowed free access to each camp, 
where he abused and beat to death detainees with impunity. 
The ICTY transferred the accused to the Bosnian War Crimes 
Chamber in May 2006.  Their trial began in October 2006. 
 
f. RASEVIC, Mitar (DPOB: 15 November 1949, Cagust, Foca, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Co-Defendant: 
 
TODOVIC, Savo (DPOB: 11 December 1952, Rijeka, Foca, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina) 
 
Charges: Crimes Against Humanity; Violations of the Laws or 
Customs of War 
 
Rasevic, a sociology teacher before the war, was commander of 
the guards at the Foca KP Dom prison from April 1992 to 
October 1994.  Todovic supervised the prison staff there, and 
later became Assistant Warden of KP Dom.  The indictment 
includes charges that they ordered, facilitated and 
participated in the persecution, torture, physical abuse, 
murder, unlawful imprisonment and enslavement of non-Serb 
civilians during that time.  The victims were primarily 
Muslim males, but detainees also included some Croats. 
Detainees died of starvation, repeated physical abuse, and 
forced labor, including clearing landmines for the Bosnian 
Serb military.  The ICTY transferred Rasevic and Todovic to 
Bosnian State Court custody in October 2006.  The case is in 
the pre-trial phase. 
 
g. STANKOVIC Radovan (DPOB: 10 March 1969, Trebicina Foca, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
The indictment alleges that as a member of the Miljevina 
battalion from April 1992 to February 1993, Stankovic 
committed, incited, aided and abetted (inter alia) multiple 
acts of enslavement, torture, rape and killing of non-Serb 
civilians.  These acts were allegedly carried out as part of 
a widespread and systematic attack of the Republika Srpska's 
army against the non-Serb population in the Foca region.  In 
particular, Stankovic is accused of setting up, together with 
other persons, a detention center for women in August 1992. 
Bosniak women were kept there in sexual slavery for extended 
periods.  SFOR arrested Stankovic in July 2002.  Stankovic 
was the first ICTY 11bis transfer to the  State Court War 
Crimes Chamber, in September 2005.  His trial began in May 
¶2006.  On November 14, the trial panel found him guilty and 
sentenced him to 16 years in prison.  The defense plans to 
appeal. 
 
¶4. Summary of Rules of the Road Cases 
 
a. ANDRUN, Nikola (DBOP: November 22, 1957, Domanovici 
 
SARAJEVO 00003069  004 OF 006 
 
 
Capljina Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
Andrun is accused of specific incidents of torture, killing 
and other mistreatment of civilian prisoners at the Gabela 
Detention Camp when he was deputy head of the camp from July 
to September 1993.  He also allegedly concealed prisoners 
from an inspection by the International Committee of the Red 
Cross.  Andrun has been in custody since November 2005.  His 
trial started in June 2006. 
 
b. DAMJANOVIC, Dragan (DPOB: 23 November 1961, Sarajevo, 
Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
According to the indictment, while fighting with the army of 
the self-styled "Serb Republic of Bosnia" in the Vogosca 
area, Damjanovic committed multiple acts of murder, torture, 
rape, using prisoners as human shields, and other inhuman 
acts.  Damjanovic has been in custody since March 2006.  His 
trial began in June. 
 
c. DAMJANOVIC, Goran (aka Panija; DPOB: 12 July 1966, 
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Co-Defendant: 
 
DAMJANOVIC, Zoran (aka Salama; DPOB: 4 September 1967, 
Mihaljevici, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charges: War Crimes Against Civilians.  Goran Damjanovic is 
also charged with Illegal Manufacture and Trade of Weapons or 
Explosive Materials. 
 
Brothers Goran and Zoran Damjanovic were members of the "Serb 
Republic of Bosnia" Army.  They are accused of a specific 
instance of beating 20-30 Bosniak civilian male prisoners 
from the town of Ahatovici over a three-hour period.  Both 
men pleaded not guilty at their preliminary hearing.  On June 
27, 2006 the brothers applied for release from custody 
pending a verdict.  The Court denied Goran,s request, but 
approved Zoran,s release.  The Court stated that Zoran did 
not pose a flight risk and would not interfere with the 
criminal proceedings while at liberty.  The trial began in 
September 2006. 
 
d. KOVACEVIC, Nikola (aka Danilusko Kajtez; DPOB: 19 April 
1968, Kruhari, Sanski Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
Kovacevic was a member of the SOS unit (Serbian Defense 
Forces) during the war.  He allegedly committed specific acts 
of murder, imprisonment, torture, and ethnic persecution 
against non-Serb civilians.  These events occurred as part of 
widespread and systematic attacks against the Bosniak and 
Croat civilian populations in the Greater Bosanska Krajina 
area from April to August 1992.  The defendant has been in 
custody since October 2005.  His trial began in April 2006. 
 
e. LJUBINAC, Radisav (aka Pjano; DPOB: 12 January 1958, 
Cemanovici, Rogatica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
The indictment cites multiple specific instances when 
Ljubinac took part in unlawful detentions, forced transfers 
of people, and murders of civilians in the Rogatica 
Municipality area in 1992.  He is also accused of organizing 
the use of 27 civilians as human shields and then arranging 
their execution by firing squad.  Ljubinac was taken into 
custody in December 2005.  In November 2006 the Court refused 
his request for bail, but granted him permission to reapply 
in January 2007.  The case is in the pre-trial phase. 
 
f. MANDIC, Momcilo (DPOB: 1 May 1954, Kalinovik, Bosnia and 
Herzegovina) 
Charges: Crimes Against Humanity; War Crimes Against Civilians 
 
SARAJEVO 00003069  005 OF 006 
 
 
 
According to the indictment, when Mandic was Assistant 
Minister of Interior in the "Serb Republic of Bosnia" in 
1992, he directed the attack and subsequent ethnic purge of 
the Training Center for Personnel of the Serb Republic's 
Ministry of Interior.  When Mandic served as the Serb 
Republic's Justice Minister in 2003, he was the immediate 
superior of management and staff in all penal facilities in 
the Serb Republic.  He is thereby being held responsible for 
the physical abuse and murders of prisoners at these 
institutions during that time.  Mandic has been in custody 
since August 2005.  In October the BiH Court special section 
for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption found him 
guilty of violating RS banking laws when he was Director of 
the Privredna Banka Srpsko Sarajevo, and sentenced him to 
nine years in jail (REFTEL).  His trial for war crimes began 
in November 2006. 
 
g. PAUNOVIC, Dragoje (DPOB: 19 June 1954, Mojkovac, 
Montenegro) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
Paunovic was the leader of a paramilitary unit fighting in 
the Serb Republic.  According to the indictment, on August 
15, 1992, he ordered soldiers to take 27 unlawfully detained 
civilians from the Rasadnik camp and use them as human 
shields on the front-line during a confrontation with the 
Federation armed forces.  Later that day, he ordered and took 
part in their executions.  Three people survived the 
shooting.  Paunovic was arrested in March 2005.  The Court 
found him guilty in May 2006 and sentenced him to twenty 
years in prison.  On October 27, the Appellate Panel denied 
the prosecution's appeal for a higher sentence and reaffirmed 
the lower Court's decision. 
 
h. SAMARDZIC, Nedo (DPOB: 7 April 1968, Bileca, Bosnia and 
Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes against Humanity 
 
The indictment alleges that as a member of the Miljevina 
battalion between April 1992-March 1993, Samardzic committed, 
incited, aided and abetted (inter alia) multiple acts of 
enslavement, torture, rape and killing of non-Serb civilians. 
 These acts were allegedly carried out as part of a 
widespread and systematic attack of the Republika Srpska's 
army against the non-Serb population in the Foca region.  In 
particular, Samardzic is accused of setting up, together with 
his brother Zoran and other persons, a detention center for 
women in August 1992 that was a rape center.  He is also 
accused of specific incidents of raping Bosniak female 
patients at the Foca Hospital.  The defendant has been in 
custody since October 2005.  In April 2006, the first 
instance trial panel found Samardzic guilty and sentenced him 
to 13 years imprisonment.  The case is on appeal. 
 
i. SAMARDZIJA, Marko, (DPOB: 1 December 1936, Gornja 
Prisjeka, Kljuc, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes Against Humanity 
 
Samardzija commanded the 3rd Company of the Sanica Battalion 
in the "Serb Republic of Bosnia" during the war.  In June 
1992, he supervised the round up and murder of at least 144 
Bosniak male civilians, aged 18-60, from the Brkic and 
Balagic Brdo villages.  Those executed were buried in mass 
graves that have since been uncovered.  Samardija has been in 
custody since March 2005.  On November 3, 2006, the lower 
court found him guilty and sentenced him to 26 years in 
prison, the highest sentence imposed by State Court so far. 
The defense plans to appeal. 
 
j. SIMSIC, Boban (DPOB: 17 December 1967, Visegrad, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: Crimes against Humanity 
 
Simsic is accused of taking part in the persecution of 
Bosniak civilians in the Visegrad municipality between April 
 
SARAJEVO 00003069  006 OF 006 
 
 
and July 1992.  In particular, he is charged with rounding up 
civilians in several neighboring villages, and participating 
in raping, torturing and killing them at an elementary school 
and a firehouse in Visegrad.  Simsic surrendered voluntarily 
in January 2005.  In July 2006, the first instance court 
found him guilty and sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment. 
The case is on apeal. 
 
¶5. Summary of Domestically Generated Cases 
 
a. MITROVIC, Petar et al 
 
Defendants: 
 
DZINIC, Brano (aka Cupo; DPOB: 28 June 1974, Jelacici, 
Kladanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
JAKOVLJEVIC, Slobodan (aka Boban; DPOB: 9 January 1964, 
Kusici, Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
MAKSIMOVIC, Velibor (aka Velja; DPOB: 15 December 1966 in 
Skelani, Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
MATIC, Milovan (DPOB: 20 May 1960, Kajici, Bratunac, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina) 
MEDAN, Branislav (aka Bane; DPOB: 24 March 1965, Dubrovnik, 
Croatia) 
MITROVIC, Petar (aka Pera; DPOB: 7 February 1967, Brezani, 
Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
RADOVANOVIC, Aleksandar (aka Aco; DPOB: 20 June 1973, 
Bujakovici, Skelani, Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
STEVANOVIC, Miladin (DPOB: 5 August 1966 in Brezani, 
Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
STUPAR, Milos (DPOB: 7 December 1963, Tisca, Sekovici, Bosnia 
and Herzegovina) 
TRIFUNOVIC, Milenko (DPOB: 7 January 1968, Kostolomci, 
Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
ZIVANOVIC, Dragisa (aka Kele; DPOB: 4 October 1974 in Bajina 
Basta, Serbia) 
 
Charge: Genocide 
 
The defendants, all soldiers in the Republika Srpska Army or 
RS police during the war, are alleged to have participated in 
"a common plan to annihilate" Bosniaks as part of widespread 
and systematic attacks against the Bosniak population inside 
the UN protected area of Srebrenica from 10 to 19 July 1995. 
They are accused specifically of ambushing Bosniak civilians 
trying to reach Army of BiH-controlled territory, detaining 
over one thousand men in the Kravica Farming Cooperative 
warehouse, and executing them en masse.  The indictment 
alleges that Stupar supervised while Dzinic threw hand 
grenades at the prisoners, Trifunovic, Jakovljevic, 
Radovanovic, Stevanovic, Mitrovic, Medan, Maksimovic and 
Zivanovic fired machine guns, and Matic reloaded ammunition. 
The defendants were taken into custody at various times 
between June and December 2005.  At the preliminary hearing 
in February 2006, all defendants pleaded not guilty.  The 
trial began in May 2006. 
 
b. RAMIC, Neset (aka Mindzusa; DPOB: 18 October 1970, Donja 
Lijeska, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 
 
Charge: War Crimes Against Civilians 
 
Ramic was a member of the 'Sabotage Company' within the 
Territorial Defense Forces of the Army of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina.  According to the indictment, on 20 June, 1992, 
Ramic ordered fellow soldiers to remove six ethnic Serb from 
their homes in Hlapcevici.  He demanded information from one 
Serb about the location of hidden weapons and minefields. 
Not receiving an answer, he shot the entire group.  Two 
people survived.  Ramic pled not guilty at the preliminary 
hearing in October 2006.  The case is in the pre-trial phase. 
MCELHANEY