here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

1.5. Orahovac/Rahovec 64
During 2012, no hearings were held in the trial of Boban Petković and Đorđe Simić at the Higher
Court in Požarevac. Petković and Simić are charged with murder. 65
Course of proceedings
The indictment brought by the Office of the District Prosecutor in Požarevac on 12 November
1999 66 against Boban Petković alleges that the accused, at the time a member of the Serbian
MUP , on 9 May 1999, at a place known as Ria, outside Orahovac/Rahovec, on the road toward
the village of Velika Hoca/Hoçë e Madhe, after catching up with Ismail Derguti, an ethnic
Albanian who was fleeing from the region of combat operations, knocked him to the ground and
shot him once in the head with a handgun he had earlier got from Đorđe Simić (the co-accused),
causing Derguti's immediate death. Petković then headed to a nearby house. When he saw ethnic
Albanian civilians Sezair Miftari and his wife Shefkie coming out of their house, he fired several
shots from an automatic weapon in their direction. Both Sezair and Shefkie Miftari were hit and
died instantly. The Prosecutor’s Office in charge of the case defined Petković's acts as a murder,
and his co-defendant Simić's acts as aiding and abetting murder.
On 19 July 2000, the District Court in Požarevac issued a judgment 67 sentencing Boban Petković
to a single sentence of 4 years and 10 months in prison for the criminal act of murder, and
defendant Đorđe Simić, who was tried in absentia, to one year in prison for aiding and abetting in
the murder of Ismail Derguti. Petković was also ordered to undergo mandatory psychiatric
treatment at liberty. On 18 December 2001, the VSS quashed 68 the judgment and remanded the
case for a new trial.
The retrial opened on 28 February 2003. The District Prosecutor's Office in Požarevac filed
revised criminal charges against the accused – replacing the previous charge of murder with war
crime against the civilian population. On 21 August 2003, the District Court in Požarevac
sentenced the accused Boban Petković 69 to five years in prison and mandatory psychiatric
treatment upon release. Đorđe Simić was acquitted. On 25 May 2006, the VSS quashed 70 the
first-instance judgment and again remitted the case to the trial court for a retrial.
64 Higher Court in Požarevac, 2K 25/11.
65 Article 142 of the CC of the FRY.
66 Indictment of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Požarevac KT No 118/99-108 of 12 November 1999.
67 District Court in Požarevac, judgment K No 96/99 of 19 July 2000.
68 VSS, decision KŽ I 1955/00 of 18 December 2000.
69 District Court in Požarevac, judgment -K No 17/02 of 21 August 2003.
70 VSS, decision KŽ I 1399/05 of 25 May 2006.
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