veličina fonta

verzija za štampu

copyright

pošalji komentar

Radmilo Vukovic Acquitted of Foca Rape

Radmilo Vukovic

13 August 2008  Radmilo Vukovic has been acquitted of the rape of a woman in Foca, in eastern Bosnia, in 1992 after the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina said there was not enough evidence.

The Appellate Chamber said there was not sufficient evidence to sentence Radmilo Vukovic, adding that this was “an atypical rape for that specific region and period of time.


“This Court has already pronounced a few verdicts for rape, but this case is much more specific and delicate,” said Appellate Chamber Chairwoman Azra Miletic. 
 

“What we have here is a rape that is atypical for that specific area and period of time, when women were detained and forced into sexual intercourse,” said Miletic.
 

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina last year pronounced a first instance verdict sentencing Vukovic to five-and-a-half years' imprisonment.
 

The Chamber had determined that he raped protected witness A on several occasions in Foca during 1992, who then gave birth to a boy in Gorazde in February 1993.
 

It said he abandoned the baby after the delivery. During the course of the trial it was determined that Vukovic was the father of the child.
 

However, both the Prosecution and Defence filed appeals, which the Appellate Chamber upheld, ordering a retrial in August 2007. Miletic said that a thorough analysis of the statements given by witnesses A and B resulted in the Court determining “that those statements contained contradictions that could not be ignored”.

 
“By denying her relation with the indicted, which was a proven truth, and by saying that she never mentioned the abuse to anyone else, witness A imperiled her credibility,” Miletic added.
 

During her testimony witness B, the injured party’s sister, said that A had told her that she was raped several times in 1992. But the Appellate Chamber was not able to determine whether the relationship between witness A and Vukovic was in fact “involuntary”.
 

Fadil Jahic, former chief of the gynecological department in Gorazde hospital, appeared as a witness during the retrial. He remembered witness A, but he could not remember her saying that Vukovic raped her.
 

“Why didn't witness A file a report against Radmilo Vukovic immediately? Why did she decide to protect him if he had committed this disgusting act?” Miletic asked.
 

The Appellate Chamber said that it was undoubtedly determined that an armed conflict was underway when the crime was committed and that sexual intercourse took place resulting in pregnancy and childbirth.
 

Vukovic said that the Appellate Chamber rendered an “objective decision”.
 

The Court has pronounced second instance verdicts against the following persons, sentencing them for crimes committed in Foca area: Radovan Stankovic (sentenced to 20 years), Gojko Jankovic (34 years) and Nedjo Samardzija (24 years). 
 

First instance verdicts were pronounced against Mitar Rasevic, sentencing him to eight-and-a-half years, and Savo Todovic, sentencing him to twelve-and-a-half years, for crimes committed in Foca Correctional Facility. Ranko and Rajko Vukovic were sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment each for crimes committed in Podkolun village, in the Foca municipality.