Institute for Research on Suffering of the Serbs in XX c.

SARAJEVO, May 8 /SRNA/ - The Court of BiH pronounced a trial judgment on Wednesday sentencing Elfeta Veseli to ten years’ imprisonment for a brutal murder of 12-year-old Slobodan Stojanović near Zvornik in 1992, and acquitted her superior Sakib Halilović as commander of the Sabotage Platoon of the Joint Units Command Liplje, Kamenica, of the so-called Army of BiH.

Halilović was acquitted of the charge of observing the murder of the boy and omitting, as commander of the Sabotage Platoon of the Joint Units Command Liplje, Kamenica, of the so-called Army of BiH, to punish Veseli who was a member of the platoon.

The Trial Panel found Elfeta Veseli guilty, as a member of the Sabotage Platoon of the Joint Units Command Liplje, Kamenica, of the so-called Army of BiH, of firing a bullet into the boy’s head point blank and killing him in the second half of July or first half of August in 1992.

The presiding judge Darko Samardžić stated in the rationale of the judgement that the panel had established the existence of the Sabotage Platoon under the command of Sakib Halilović, a.k.a. Kiba, of which platoon the accused Elfeta Veseli was a member.

Samardžić stated the panel had taken into consideration the fact that during the court proceedings numerous witnesses had given changed statements, which is why they fully accepted their statements given during the investigation.

"Based on the evidence and numerous witness statements, the Trial Panel reached a conclusion that Elfeta Veseli had killed the boy Slobodan Stojanović with direct intent, given that she shot the boy point blank,” said Samardžić.

He added that, due to numerous contradictions, the Trial Panel could not believe the protected witness S-1 who was the only eyewitness, but did believe other witnesses, as well as the minutes from the investigation stating that the Albanian woman Elfeta Veseli had killed the boy.

According to him, the Panel found specifically significant a statement from a witness to whom Veseli had confirmed she killed the boy.

Apart from the statements of witnesses who confirmed the boy’s murder, Samardžić also mentioned an autopsy report by the medical forensic expert Zoran Stanković who had found a bullet wound in the boy’s head.

Samardžić says the Panel found that Veseli committed the act on an undefined date in either July or early August 1992, that she was convicted for crime against civilians according to the Criminal Code of ex-Yugoslavia which was valid at the time the crime was committed.

The time Elfeta Veseli spent in detention since March 24, 2017 as the time spent in extradition prison in Switzerland counts towards her prison sentence.

She was remanded in custody for another nine months on Wednesday.

Elaborating on the acquittal of the former Sabotage Platoon commander Sakib Halilović, Samardžić stated that application of the SFRY Criminal Code was vital for Halilović because the crime he was accused of had not been prescribed by the code, nor had it stipulated the responsibility the BiH Prosecutor’s Office charged him with.

The Trial Panel believes that the prosecutor missed an opportunity to charge Halilović with failing to do something to prevent the murder of little boy Slobodan Stojanović.

The Panel, he says, found there was the Sabotage Platoon, better known as Kibe’s group, who had gone through training in Croatia for military operations in BiH, which, too, was confirmed by the witnesses.

"Witnesses confirmed the presence of the child in that area who was in Kibe’s group for awhile and that he had a chance to see him. The Panel established that after an attempted escape, the boy Slobodan Stojanović was abused, which was confirmed by a finding of forensic expert Stanković after exhumation,” said Samardžić.

The BiH Prosecutor’s Office charged Elfeta Veseli, as member of the Sabotage Platoon of the Joint Units Command Liplje, Kamenica, of the so-called Army of BiH, with killing the 12-year-old Slobodan Stojanović in the settlement Bajrići-Novo Selo in the area of Kamenica either in the second half of July or first half of August 1992.

According to the indictment, Veseli killed the boy in the most brutal way by walking up to him from the back, while he was on his bicycle, and slaughtering him with a knife.

The indictment reads that Sakib Halilović, who was the Sabotage Platoon commander, was aware that his subordinate had committed the crime but failed to take the necessary measures to have her punished.



http://89.111.245.19/novosti/689853/veseli-gets-ten-years-in-prison-for-murdering-boy-slobodan-stojanovic.htm