Today, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) rendered the first instance verdict in the Section I for War Crimes case of Radmilo Vuković, finding the Accused guilty of War crimes against civilians and sentencing him to five years and six months imprisonment.

The Trial Panel found that, as a member of the military formations of the so-called Serb Republic of BiH, the Accused committed breaches of the rules of international humanitarian law during an armed conflict between the armed forces of the Republic of BiH and the armed forces of the so-called Serb Republic of BiH.  

On 10 June 1992, armed with a riffle, Radmilo Vuković took a woman from an apartment in Miljevina, Foča and took her to another apartment in the same municipality.  In the second apartment, the Accused physically abused the victim by beating her, threatening to kill her, placing a pistol against her temple and holding a knife to her throat.  He then tore the victim’s clothes to pieces and punched her in the head, causing her to lose consciousness.  The Accused then used the victim’s unconsciousness to rape her.  He raped the victim in the same apartment at least five or six times until the end of August 1992.   These forcible sexual intercourses caused the victim to fall pregnant, resulting in the birth of a child after the victim was expelled from the Foča area. 

While determining the punishment, the Court respected extenuating circumstance that the Accused behaved properly before the Court, that he was not found criminally responsible in the past, and that he is a family man.  The Court found as a particularly extenuating circumstance pre war relationship between the Accused and the victim. 

The time the Accused spent in custody from 18 April 2006 to 14 February 2007 will count towards his sentence.