Momcilo Mandic Acquitted by Second Instance Verdict
04 February 2010 The Appellate Chamber of the State Court rejects the State Prosecution's appeal and confirms the verdict by which Momcilo Mandic is acquitted of charges for war crimes against civilians and crimes against humanity.
By a first instance verdict, pronounced in July 2007, Mandic, former Minister of Justice of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was acquitted of responsibility for the attack by Serbian forces on the Staff Training Center with the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Sarajevo and responsibility for the functioning of the penal and correctional facilities in Sarajevo and Foca.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina appealed the verdict due to "substantive violations of the criminal proceedings and wrongly determined facts", but the Court rejected the appeal as "groundless".
As stated in the State Court's decision, the Appellate Chamber said the first instance court correctly determined that it was not proved that the indictee was responsible for the events that took place in the Foca, Butmir and Planjina kuca facilities in the period when Mandic was Justice Minister in the Government of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"The Appellate Chamber considers that it was logical for the first instance Chamber to conclude that the Ministry of Justice and the Administration of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not specifically express its responsibility for detainees, and therefore there is no reliable conclusion suggesting that indictee Momcilo Mandic, in his capacity as Justice Minister, had effective control over events and actions pertaining to the capture, detention and treatment of prisoners," the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina said.
Considering the count charging Mandic with the attack on Vraca School Center, the Appellate Chamber ruled that this incident "does not fulfill the conditions of an armed conflict".
The first instance verdict found that the attack on Vraca Center happened on April 5, 1992, prior to the beginning of the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it therefore "could not be characterized as an armed conflict but as part of an inter-ethnic conflict".
"It cannot be determined, beyond reasonable doubt, that the indictee came to the Vraca Center in his capacity as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with authority to issue orders to police forces," the decision states.
The Court considers it is necessary to present "convincing evidence pertaining to real command or control" of a group of people who committed the crimes described in the indictment in order to prove Mandic's responsibility.
The Appellate Chamber ruled that "it is important and necessary to differentiate between various groups of people or chains of command if the activities of these groups or chains of command partially, but not fully, overlap."
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