BOSNIA - COURT HANDS DOWN STIFF SENTENCES,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 001236

SIPDIS

EUR FOR STUART JONES, EUR/SCE (HOH, FOOKS, STINCHCOMB),
S/WCI (WILLIAMSON, VIBUL),INL (MARNEY),INR (MORIN); NSC
FOR BRAUN; OSD FOR BEIN; DOJ FOR OPDAT (ALEXANDRE)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2008
TAGS: PGOV PREL KAWC KJUS BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA - COURT HANDS DOWN STIFF SENTENCES,
ACQUITTALS IN LANDMARK SREBRENICA CASE

REF: SARAJEVO 1087

Classified By: MICHAEL J. MURPHY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (U) SUMMARY: On July 29, a first instance panel at the
State Court convicted seven individuals accused of killing
more than 1000 Bosniak men and boys in the Kravica Farming
Warehouse Cooperative on genocide charges, but acquitted four
other defendants due to insufficient evidence of their
participation in the killings. This was the first time that
a court in Bosnia handed down genocide convictions; the
sentences handed down were also the toughest war
crimes-related sentences by a local court to date. Contacts
at the State Prosecutor's Office and a judge on the case told
us that they were pleased with the results. Public reactions
to the decision in this landmark case have been limited, but
mostly positive. Notably, politicians and political parties
have refrained from commenting publicly on the case except
for the Serb Democratic Party (SDS),which blasted the Court
for making a &political8 decision. Like the Radovan
Karadzic arrest, the Kravica decision is an important step in
the quest for justice for victims of war crimes in Bosnia,
particularly Srebrenica, and their families. The case is
also an important "win" for the State Court. END SUMMARY


HISTORIC DECISION RENDERED IN KRAVICA CASE
--------------


2. (U) On July 29, a first instance panel at the State
Court found seven defendants guilty of killing more than 1000
Bosniak men and boys in the Kravica Farming Warehouse
Cooperative near Srebrenica in July 1995, but acquitted four
other defendants in the case. All eleven defendants -- ten
former members of the Republika Srpska (RS) Special Police
from Sekovici and a member of the RS Army -- had been charged
with genocide. This was the first time that a domestic court
handed down a genocide conviction. The sentences were also
the toughest war crimes-related sentences handed down by the
courts to date. Milenko Trifunovic, Aleksandar Radovanovic,
and Brano Dzinic received sentences of 42 years; Milos
Stupar, Slobodan Jakovljevic, and Branislav Medan received
sentences of 40 years; and Petar Mitrovic received 38 years.
All seven are expected to appeal their sentences. Four other
defendants -- Velibor Maksimovic, Dragisa Zivanovic, Miladin
Stevanovic, and Milovan Matic -- were set free because
prosecutors failed to prove to the court that the four men
had participated in the killings. (Note: Two other
Kravica-related cases, each involving a single defendant, are
proceeding separately. End Note)

THE VIEW FROM THE STATE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, THE COURT
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Prior to the announcement of the Kravica decision,
contacts at the State Prosecutor's Office told us privately
that they doubted all eleven defendants would be convicted of
genocide and speculated that some might be acquitted
(Reftel). They said that the case had been &overcharged8
because Chief Prosecutor Marinko Jurcevic (who is on extended
sick leave) had been under political pressure to secure
genocide convictions. After the court decision was
announced, our contacts described the verdicts as &good
results8 but stressed that the case must still go through
the appeals phase, a process that typically lasts a year.
One of the three panel judges who decided the case told us
that she was pleased with the verdicts, but also confided
that she believed the Prosecutor's Office had "overcharged"
the four men who were acquitted. She also complimented the
national prosecutor who had tried the case. (Note: Both the
national prosecutor and the presiding judge in the case had
participated in war crimes prosecution training sponsored by
OPDAT. An international prosecutor also played a major role
behind the scenes in the case. End Note)

REACTIONS TO THE VERDICT
--------------


4. (U) As of today (July 31),except for SDS officials who
labeled the Court's verdict &political,8 political leaders
and parties have refrained from commenting publicly on the
landmark case. Media outlets at the state-level and in the

SARAJEVO 00001236 002 OF 002


Federation have described the verdicts as &just.8 Most
media outlets in the Republika Srpska have provided factual
accounts of the decision. However, Republika Srpska,s
government-owned radio and television service, RTRS, called
the prison sentences &draconian,8 while the Banja Luka
based-daily &Glas Srpska8 claimed that the verdicts are
proof that the State Court and the International Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) are biased against Serbs. The
Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves, who had planned to
protest the decision but changed their minds after realizing
that the decision was better than expected, still expressed
disappointment with it. In a public statement, they
declared, &this is no justice. Those criminals that have
been convicted ) their children have fathers, their wives
have husbands, their mothers have sons, and we are still
searching for our loved ones.8

COMMENT
--------------


5. (C) The landmark Kravica decision, coming just days after
the arrest of Radovan Karadzic in Serbia, is yet another
critical milestone in the quest for justice for Bosnia's war
crimes victims. Victims and their families should find some
comfort in the decision since it resulted in the first ever
genocide convictions in a Bosnian court and produced the
toughest war crimes-related sentences handed down by a
Bosnian court. The nature of the verdicts also make it
difficult for Bosniak member of the Tri-Presidency Haris
Silajdzic and RS PM Milorad Dodik to exploit the case
politically, which may be why both men have, thus far,
refrained from commenting on it. Silajdzic cannot argue that
the gravity of the crime was not acknowledged given the seven
convictions for genocide, and Dodik cannot claim the outcome
was biased against Serbs, since four Serbs were acquitted.
The outcome of the Kravica case was a &win8 for the Court
as well, which still faces an uphill battle building public
confidence in its ability to ensure speedy and fair justice
in war crimes cases.
ENGLISH