Sentence against Momir Savic Reduced
21 May 2010 The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentences Momir Savic to 17 years in prison for crimes committed in the Visegrad area.
Under the verdict, Savic has been ordered into custody that may last until the moment he is sent to a prison to serve his sentence.
By the first instance verdict pronounced by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina Savic was sentenced to 18 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed in the Visegrad area. He was found guilty, as a member of "an unidentified paramilitary formation" and the Commander of the Third Company with the Visegrad Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, of having participated in capturing, deporting, mistreating and killing civilians from the Visegrad and Rudo area from April to September 1992.
According to the first instance verdict, Savic was also sentenced for sexual abuse of a protected witness.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina appealed the verdict, calling for a longer prison sentence, while the Defence asked for a retrial.
The Appellate Chamber rejected the Prosecution's appeal and partially accepted the Defence's appeal, and revised the first instance verdict, acquitting Savic of the charges that he committed rape.
By the second instance verdict Savic was acquitted of the charges alleging that, from June 7 to the end of September 1992 he frequently came, uniformed and armed, to TB's house in Visegrad, raped and humiliated her by saying she had "given birth to a sufficient number of Muslim kids and she should now start giving birth to Serb kids", beat her and threatened her by saying she must not tell anyone about this.
"This Chamber has found that the first instance verdict did not determine, reliably, that the indictee had forced the injured party to have sexual intercourse with him, nor did it determine the existence of circumstances which could be considered as forcible," the second instance verdict said.
This verdict is final and the parties do not have the right to appeal.
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