here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

collaborating with Croatian forces, as along with their mother Lucija Rakić, who was not in
detention. Together with defendants Mirko Malinović and Milan Bogunović, members of the TO
in Teslingrad at the time, they, as they had previously agreed, went to Lucija’s holiday house.
While Malinović and Bogunović kept watch in the yard, Budisavljević entered the house and
killed Lucija with a firearm, after which all three men burned her body and the holiday house.
Several days later, defendant Čedo Budisavljević, together with defendants Mirko Malinović,
Milan Bogunović, Bogdan Gruičić and Goran Novaković 106 , went, as had been agreed, to the
police station in Teslingrad, where Mane, Dragan, Milovan and Radmila Rakić were confined,
duck taped their hands and mouth and then transported them to the Golubnjača cave, killed them
with firearms and threw their bodies into the cave.
On 14 March 2011, the Higher Court in Belgrade found the defendants guilty, sentenced them
each to 12 years in prison and remanded them in custody.
On 9 November 2011, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, upon hearing appeals from both the
TRZ 107 and the defense counsels of all the accused, delivered a ruling accepting the appeals,
reversing the judgment and remanding the case to the trial court for a new trial.
During the retrial, which began on 12 March 2012, the court re-examined the defendants, who
stood by their defense presented at the first trial, in its entirety
On 16 March 2012, the presiding judge, Vinka Beraha Nikićević, pronounced judgment, finding
the defendants guilty of a war crime against the civilian population as co-perpetrators. Čedo
Budisavljević and Mirko Malinović each were sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Milan
Bogunović and Bogdan Gruičić were each sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
In the oral explanation of the judgment, the presiding judge said that the court had established
beyond doubt that the defendants committed the offence that they were charged with. The
defendant Budisavljević pleaded guilty to the crime and provided a detailed account of the role of
each of the defendants in its commission, without downplaying his own responsibility at any
moment. The court accepted his testimony in its entirety because it was corroborated by other
evidence, such as the testimonies of witnesses Radomir Narandžić, commander of Teslingrad
police station, Milan Mirić, a member of the TO in Teslingrad, and Milan Jakšić, an officer at the
Gračac police station, as well as by physical evidence – autopsy and victim identification reports.
Defendants Malinović, Bogunović and Gruičić denied committing the crime but did not deny
having been present at the crime scene at the time of the crime. The court did not give credence
106 The court decided to try Goran Novaković separately.
107 Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Dušan Knežević.
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