here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

elements of this criminal act and the fact that the armed conflict ceased to exist as of 20 June
1999.
As for the assessment of the testimony of cooperating witness ‘Božur 50’ and the objection by
the Court of Appeal that the original trial court had applied double standards in assessing his
testimony, the re-trial clearly removed this irregularity. The testimony of cooperating witness
‘Božur 50’ was rejected in its entirety. This was the only possible decision, given the evidence
presented and how flawed this witness’s testimony was. The court also properly noted that the
indictment by the TRZ was entirely based on the testimony of this witness, failing to offer any
other evidence to substantiate the charges.
When analyzing the court’s assessment of the above witness’s statements, one fact deserves
special attention: the same chamber, presided over by the same judge, in the initial trial gave a
different assessment of this witness’s credibility.
Despite the existence of ample evidence contrary to the factual allegations in the indictment, the
TRZ did not substantially change the indictment before the end of proceedings. Instead, the TRZ
ignored the fact that after 20 June 1990 there was no armed conflict in Kosovo and that the
evidence given by the chief witness of the prosecution, ‘Božur 50’, contradicted the description
of events set forth in the indictment.
2.7.Beli Manastir 148
On 19 June 2012, the Higher Court in Belgrade 149 delivered a judgment convicting Zoran Vukšić,
Slobodan Strigić, Branko Hrnjak and Velimir Bertić of a war crime against the civilian
population. 150 Zoran Vukšić received the maximum prison sentence of 20 years, Slobodan Strigić
was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, Branko Hrnjak to 5 years’ imprisonment and Velimir
Bertić to 18 months’ imprisonment.
Course of proceedings
On 23 June 2010 the TRZ 151 filed an indictment 152 against Zoran Vukšić, Slobodan Strigić,
Branko Hrnjak and Velimir Bertić for a war crime against the civilian population. According to
148 The Higher Court in Belgrade - War Crimes Department -K-Po2 45/2010.
149 Members of the trial chamber: judge Dragan Mirković (presiding), judge Tatjana Vuković and judge Olivera
Anđelković.
150 Article 142 of the CC of the FRY, as co-perpetrators, within the meaning of Article 22 of the CC of the FRY.
151 Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor, Nebojša Marković.
152 This case was transferred by the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic of Croatia in 2008, in keeping
with the Agreement on Mutual Cooperation in the Prosecution of Perpetrators of War Crimes, Crimes against
Humanity and Genocide (2006).
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