The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Zrinko Pincic to nine years imprisonment for war crimes against civilians in Konjic municipality. 

Pincic was found guilty of having forced witness A to have sexual intercourse with him several times in the period from November 1992 to March 1993. The witness was detained in Donje selo, in Konjic municipality, together with other Serb civilians.  

“It is unquestionable that the indictee and witness A had sexual relations several times. In the course of the trial a question was asked as to whether this was done voluntarily or forcibly. The State Prosecution alleged that force was used, while the Defence claimed that they were having a love affair,” judge Minka Kreho said. 

She added that, in pronouncing the verdict the Trial Chamber fully trusted witness Radmila Zivak, who “was present when the indictee took witness A to a separate room”.  

“When she came back she seemed miserable, scared and she cried. It was not necessary to ask her what had happened. After the war the injured party confirmed to me that she had been raped several times and that she would report this to competent authorities,” Kreho said, conveying what Zivak said in the course of her testimony.   

As far as the Defence witnesses are concerned Kreho said that they did not witness “the event in question”, adding that, due to family or friendly relations with the indictee, “they just tried to help him, without paying any attention to the injured party who had survived a mental trauma”.  

During the course of the evidence presenting, there were disputes concerning the issue of Pincic’s military status, or more precisely whether he was a soldier or civilian in his capacity as secretary of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO in Hrasnica.   

“The Trial Chamber determined that Pincic was a soldier, because he had weapons and uniform, although he performed a civilian function,” Kreho said. 

In determining the sentence against the indictee, the Trial Chamber took into consideration “the age of the indictee”, who is 60 years old. 

By the first instance verdict the indictee is due to pay the costs of the criminal proceedings, which will be determined by a separate decision to be made by the Trial Chamber. Injured party A has been advised to file a civil suit concerning her property and legal claim.  

Both parties have the right to appeal this verdict with the Appellate Chamber of the State Court. 

Velimir Maric, Defence attorney of the indictee, said he would “thoroughly review the verdict”, which he considered “to be unlawful”, because the relation between witness A and the indictee was “voluntary”. He said he would file an appeal.  

Besides the verdict, the Trial Chamber rendered a decision, extending the earlier ordered prohibiting measures against the indictee. As said by Kreho, if the measures are violated, the indictee will be ordered into custody.