here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

and ruthlessness shown to the victims, the determination and perseverance manifested during the
commission of the crime against civilians who were helpless and held in inhumane living
conditions, creating a climate of terror together with other co-defendants, despite the fact that the
victims did nothing to deserve such a treatment. The Court took account of the gravity of the
consequences of the acts on the survivors, who still suffer from mental trauma and physical pain
as a result of the physical and mental torture they endured. Some of them have even fled their
places of residence. For these reasons Goran Savić’s sentence was modified.” 183
Analysis of proceedings
If one looks at the final judgment in this case, it is clear that the trial court conducted the firstinstance
proceedings without any substantial violation of the CPC, that it correctly and fully
established the factual background, and that the acts of the accused were properly defined. Yet,
the trial court erred in determining the sentences for the accused. Although the HLC did not see
the written reasoned judgment, the Court of Appeal can be said to have obviously made a right
decision when it modified the sentencing part of the trial court’s judgment. The Court of Appeal
offered valid arguments suggesting that aggravating circumstances had not been given sufficient
weight in determining the sentence level. Such a reasoning of a second-instance court is
encouraging, given the well-established practice of Serbia’s courts to attach far more weight to
mitigating circumstances with respect to the aggravating factors, which has often resulted in
unduly lenient sentences on individuals convicted of war crimes.
As regards the decision acquitting Saša Ćilerdžić of criminal responsibility, the HLC is unable to
analyse it because it does not have the first-instance or second-instance judgments in this case.
4. Cases that resulted in third-instance judgments during 2012
4.1. Medak
On 11 January 2012, 184 the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, 185 as a second-instance court in this
case, reversed, in part, the judgment of the Higher Court in Belgrade acquitting the defendant
183 Website of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade: www.bg.ap.sud.rs.
184 Kž1 Po2 9/11.
185 Members of the chamber: judge Radmila Dragičević Dičić (presiding), judge Siniša Važić, judge Sonja
Manojlović, judge Sretko Janković and judge Omer Hadžiomerović.
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