A panel of judges of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has entirely upheld the eight-year prison sentence imposed on Branimir Glavas by the Croatian Supreme Court for war crimes against Serb civilians in Osijek, as well as the explanation of the verdict, deciding to credit to the sentence the time he had spent in detention in Croatia, according to the text of the verdict published by the State Court in Sarajevo on Wednesday.
The panel of judges established that all conditions had been met to make a ruling in line with a Croatian Justice Ministry request for the enforcement of Glavas's verdict on the basis of Bosnian laws regulating international legal aid in criminal matters and the Bosnian-Croatian agreement regulating that matter.
The panel of judges decided that the motion by the Bosnian prosecution to uphold the Croatian verdict against Glavas in its entirety was completely justified, dismissing at the same time as unfounded objections from the defence regarding some formal aspects of the documents submitted by the Croatian judiciary.
The court also rejected the motion by the defence that provisions of the penal code be applied to Glavas's case that were in force in 1991 and envisaged more lenient sentences for war crimes.
Explaining the reason for accepting the duration of the prison sentence determined by the Croatian court, the Bosnian panel of judges said it was primarily governed by the severity of the crimes committed as well as the purpose of the punishment.
Under the ruling, the time Glavas spent in detention in Croatia, from 18 April 2007 to 11 January 2008, will be credited to his sentence.
The hearing on Croatia's request to enforce the verdict against Glavas, who fled to Bosnia and Herzegovina before receiving his sentence in Croatia, was held on September 20 and the ruling was made on the same day. It was the second such verdict passed by a Bosnian court after the Sarajevo Cantonal Court in June this year passed a verdict in the case of heart surgeon Ognjen Simic, who fled from Croatia to Bosnia after he was sentenced for taking bribes.
Simic was sentenced in Croatia to five years in prison, and the Sarajevo Cantonal Court sentenced him to two and a half years in prison pending appeal.
In June this year, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia adopted changes to their agreement on the mutual enforcement of court rulings in criminal matters to prevent persons holding both Croatian and Bosnian citizenship from avoiding to serve final prison sentences, and undertook to mutually accept and enforce final court rulings.
Under the existing agreement, courts in the two countries can uphold or possibly reduce verdicts in line with local legislation, but they cannot increase them. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, war crimes carry a prison sentence of at least 10 years.
