Partially upholding the appeals filed by the
indictees, the ICTY Appellate Chamber has reduced the sentence in the case of Enver
Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura.
The Appellate Chamber of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) partially upheld the first
instance verdict appeals filed by Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura and
reduced the sentence for crimes committed in central Bosnia to three and a half
and two years imprisonment respectively.
In March 2006 Hadzihasanovic,
former commander of the Third Corps of BiH Army, and Kubura, former acting
commander of the Seventh Muslim Mountain Brigade with the same Corps, were announced guilty for having failed to undertake "the necessary and reasonable
measures" in order to sanction the perpetrators of crimes committed in the towns
and villages in central Bosnia. Hadzihasanovic was sentenced to five years and
Kubura to two and a half years imprisonment.
Both parties appealed the
first instance verdict.
In the
case of Amir Kubura, the Prosecution appealed the part of the verdict which
acquitted him of some charges, as well as the announced sentence. Concerning
Enver Hadzihasanovic, it appealed the sentence, asking for both sentences to be
doubled.
The Appellate Chamber
rejected these appeals in full.
The Appellate Chamber also rejected the
allegations by the first instance Trial Chamber that Hadzihasanovic failed to
sanction the perpetrators of the murder of one person and cruel treatment of
detainees in the furniture factory detention camp in Bugojno and other detention
centres in August 1993. The Appellate Chamber considers that the measures he
undertook at the time were "reasonable".
The Appellate Chamber acquitted
Kubura of the charges alleging that he was responsible for the crimes committed
by his subordinates in the Vares area in November 1993.
Hadzihasanovic and Kubura were
arrested in August 2001. Prior to the announcement of the second instance
verdict, the two men were at liberty. Kubura was released in April 2006, while
Hadzihasanovic was temporarily released in June 2007.
Mehmed Alagic, former senior officer
of the Army of BiH, was charged with the same crimes as Hadzihasanovic and
Kubura. The process against him was never completed, as he died in March
2003.
The process against Gasal and others, in which four low ranking
BiH Army and police officers are charged with crimes committed in the detention
camps in Bugojno, is currently underway before the Court of BiH.