The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina /BiH/ rendered and delivered in open session a Trial Judgment in the case of Predrag Bastah on 22 March 2022, finding the accused Predrag Bastah guilty of the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 paragraph 1 sub-paragraph (h) as read with sub-paragraph (a) of the Criminal Code /CC/ of BiH, taken in conjunction with Article 29 and Article 180(1) of the CC BiH. For the said crime, pursuant to Article 55(1) and Article 53(1) of the CC BiH, the Court imposed on the accused Predrag Bastah a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 20 (twenty) years. The Court took as already fixed punishment of long-term imprisonment for a term of 22 (twenty-two) years imposed by the final Judgment of the Court of BiH No. X-KR-05/122 dated 4 February 2010. By applying Article 53(2)(a) of the CC BiH, the Court imposed on the Accused a single sentence of long-term imprisonment for a term of 35 (thirty-five) years.
Pursuant to Article 55(1) and Article 56 of the CC BiH, the time that the Accused spent serving his sentence under the previous final judgment as well as the time spent in pre-trial custody from 28 January 2008 onwards in Court of BiH Case No. X-KR-05/122 shall be credited towards the imposed sentence of imprisonment.
The accused Predrag Bastah has been found guilty because he, in the period from 21 April 1992 until the end of September 1992, as part of a widespread and systematic attack by military, paramilitary and police forces of the Serbian Republic of BiH directed against the civilian population of Bosniak and other non-Serb ethnicities in Vlasenica municipality, with knowledge of that attack and that his acts constituted part thereof, as a member of the reserve forces of the MUP RS /Ministry of Interior of the Republika Srpska/ - Vlasenica SJB /Public Security Station/ persecuted the Bosniak civilians on political, national and religious grounds by participating in a common plan and making a contribution in furtherance of a common goal of depriving other persons of their lives (murders).
The Court dismissed the charge against the accused Predrag Bastah involving persons covered by the previous final judgment as indicated in the enacting clause of the judgment, whereby he would have committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 paragraph 1 sub-paragraph (h) as read with sub-paragraph (a) of the CC BiH, taken in conjunction with Article 29 and Article 180(1) thereof.
An appeal against this judgment may be filed to a Panel of the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH, within 15 (fifteen) days after service of a written copy of the judgment.
