On 29 September 2023 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina delivered and pronounced a Trial Judgment in the case of Savo Tepić et al., finding the accused Duško Vujičić and Duško Maksimović guilty of the individual charges under the Indictment, which the Judgment legally qualified as the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians under Article 142(1) of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (CC SFRY).
The Court sentenced the accused as follows:
- Duško Vujičić to six (6) years of imprisonment;
- Duško Maksimović to one (1) year and six (6) months of imprisonment.
The accused have been found guilty because during the war and the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina between members of the Army of Republika Srpska and the police forces of the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska on the one side, and members of the Army of BiH and the Croat Defense Council on the other, in the territory of Kotor Varoš municipality, between 11 June 1992 and November 1992, Duško Vujičić as an active police officer at the SJB Kotor Varoš, and Duško Maksimović as a reserve police officer at the SJB Kotor Varoš, acted in violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, by way of unlawful detention and inhuman treatment of non-Serb civilians of the Kotor Varoš municipality, committed with the intent to inflict serious physical pain or mental anguish or deterioration of health.
The accused Savo Tepić and Ilija Kurušić have been acquitted of all charges, while Duško Vujičić and Duško Maksimović have been acquitted of individual charges only, for it was not proven that they committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina which the Indictment charged them with.
An appeal from the Judgment may be filed with the Appellate Division Panel within 15 days of the day when a written copy of the Judgment was received.
