DURAKOVIĆ ACQUITTED OF WAR CRIMES AGAINST SERB CIVILIANS

SARAJEVO, MAY 28 /SRNA/ – The Appellate Chamber of the Court of BiH has acquitted former commander of the 43rd Brigade of the so-called Army of BiH, Ramiz Duraković, of charges of war crimes against Serb civilians in the Čajniče area in 1993, stating that it was not proven he had knowledge of the crimes committed.

The presiding judge of the Appellate Chamber, Amela Husić, said it was not disputed that the crimes had occurred, nor that Duraković commanded the operation, but that it was not proven he was aware of the killings and setting the houses on fire. "No one disputes that the crime happened, nor that the accused commanded the operation, but none of the presented evidence indicates that information about the killings and setting the houses on fire reached the accused, either directly or indirectly," Husić said in the explanation of the judgment, which is final. The injured party, Miloš Pijević, whose house was burned, has been referred to civil proceedings to pursue a property claim. Defense lawyer Denis Jakić said after the judgment was handed down that the defence team had maintained from the beginning that Duraković did not commit the criminal offense he was charged with. He added that Duraković spent nearly two years in detention. The Court of BiH had previously sentenced Duraković to three and a half years in prison for war crimes against Serb civilians in the Čajniče area in 1993. The first-instance verdict found him guilty of the killing of Darinka Pijević and the burning of the houses of Rajko and Miloš Pijević. Duraković, a citizen of Serbia and Germany, was charged with having known about the crimes committed as commander of the 43rd Brigade of the so-called Army of BiH, but failing to take necessary and reasonable measures to punish the perpetrators. The indictment accused him of war crimes against the civilian population under the Criminal Code of the former SFRY, announced the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, at whose proposal the indictment was confirmed. The trial began in October 2024.