Bosnian Court Convicts Blagojevic for Srebrenica Crime

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bosnia's top war crimes court convicted Mladen Blagojevic of war crimes today and sentenced him to seven years in prison. Blagojevic was found guilty of persecuting Muslim Bosniak civilians with the intent to harm them during a Serb military operation in Srebrenica, commonly known as the Srebrenica massacre.

The massacre at Srebrenica took place in July, 1995 when Bosnian-Serb forces overtook the region.  After assuming control, they slaughtered approximately 8,000 Muslims residing in a UN peacekeeper-protected refugee area that housed approximately 40,000 people. 

Blagojevic was arrested for crimes against humanity and tried with three other defendants: Zdravko Božic, Zoran Živanovic and Željko Zaric.  While the other men were acquitted for lack of evidence to sustain the charges, Blagojevic was convicted for inhuman treatment - a lesser charge than crimes against humanity - based on witness testimony of his "brutal behavior."

As a member of the Republika Srpska Army and the Bratunac Brigade Military Police, Blagojevic was accused of participating in guarding a school in Bratunac where detainees were routinely beaten and tortured.  He was also accused of executing at least 5 civilians and of separating Bosnian men from women and children before deporting them from the country. The presiding judge reported that witnesses saw Blagojevic firing a machine gun at a Muslim standing near the window of a school in the eastern town of Bratunac.  The court held that Mladen Blagojevic had persecuted Muslim Bosniak civilians on political, ethnic and religious grounds with the intent to harm them.

Mass graves in Srebrenica are still being exhumed. 

For more information, please see:

ABC News - Bosnia court jails Serb ex-soldier over Srebrenica - 6 November 2008

AP - Court convicts Bosnian Serb in Srebrenica massacre - 6 November 2008

in.the.news.co.uk - Srebrenica massacre: Bosnian-Serb convicted - 6 November 2008

Radio Netherlands - Mladen Blagojevic sentenced to 7 years imprisonment over Srebrenica massacre - 6 November 2008