Zelenović sentencing hearing date set

Zelenović sentencing hearing date set

Zelenović sentencing hearing date set  

The Hague Tribunal has scheduled Dragan Zelenović’s sentencing hearing for February 23.

Zelenović has previously pleaded guilty to charges of multiple rape and torture of Bosniak girls in Foča during the war in Bosnia.

The Hague prosecution has recommended a sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison, while the defense counsel has called for 7 to 10 years in the case.

The prosecution and the defense counsel will present the aggravating and mitigating circumstances that may be relevant for the Trial Chamber in their deliberation on the severity of the sentence.

The prosecution and the defense suggested the length of prison sentence according to the plea agreement. However, the Trial Chamber is not bound by these sentencing proposals and can impose a harsher sentence, including life behind bars.

Zelenović has pleaded guilty to seven counts of the indictment, where rape and torture were qualified as crimes against humanity. The same acts, cumulatively charged in the indictment as violations of the laws or customs of war, were dropped by the prosecution after the accused pleaded guilty.

Between April 1992 and June 1993, the period relevant for the indictment, Dragan Zelenović was one of the sub-commanders in the Bosnian Serb military police and a paramilitary leader in Foča.

He admitted to raping two women, identified in the indictment by their pseudonyms, 75 and 87. He committed the rapes on several occasions in different places. One of victims was only fifteen years old at the time.

The Chamber formally found Zelenović guilty after it was satisfied that his guilty plea was voluntary, unequivocal and informed and that there was a prima facie case indicating that he in fact did commit the crimes he was charged with.

Seven other Bosnian Serbs were indicted along with Zelenović for the rape of women in Foča. Two of the accused were killed resisting arrest, and five of them have been sentenced to a total of 110 years in prison by the ICTY.

All their sentences have been upheld on appeal. The Tribunal also referred two cases to Sarajevo’s State Court. The first-instance judgment in one of the cases, that of Gojko Janković, was delivered last week.