Will be transferred to state prison: Duško Suvara, convicted of crimes in Glamoč, surrendered

(Patria) - Duško Suvara, who was sentenced to six years in prison for rape and inhumane treatment in 1992 in the Glamoč area, surrendered on Monday morning to the premises of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in Banja Luka, from where he will be sent to serve his prison sentence, it was confirmed for Detektor.

After being previously convicted by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for crimes against the civilian population and being on the run since March, Suvara surrendered and will be sent to serve his sentence, his lawyer Slobodan Perić and SIPA confirmed for Detektor.

Perić says that Suvara was supposed to report for serving his sentence on December 27 last year. After he failed to do so, the State Court issued an international arrest warrant for him in March this year, Perić reminds, who told Detektor at the time that Suvara had contacted him from Turkey.

“He was previously sentenced to 20 years in prison and a single prison sentence had to be imposed on him. He has already served this sentence. That was the reason why he was hiding, meaning he refused to go to serve his sentence for seven months, hoping that the Constitutional Court of BiH, or the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska, would decide on his appeal, or request,” says Perić.

By the verdict of the Court of BiH of May 27 last year, Suvara was found guilty of raping two Bosniak women in the Glamoč area in May and June 1992, as a member of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). This verdict was confirmed by the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH, after rejecting the appeals of the BiH Prosecutor's Office and the defendant's defense attorney against the first-instance verdict as unfounded.

“He will now be sent to serve his sentence in the state prison in Istočno Sarajevo. We are now awaiting the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH on his appeal, and at the same time, we have requested a retrial before the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska, which imposed a 20-year sentence on him. The practice since 1945 has been to impose a single prison sentence,” says Perić, who accuses the “Court [of] intentionally violating the law”.

He says that his client “was previously convicted for acts he committed after this one”.

SIPA confirmed for Detektor that Suvara reported to serve his sentence and that he will be transferred to the state prison.

The Court of BiH previously stated that, in addition to Suvara, arrest warrants were issued for 12 finally convicted individuals who did not report or were not found at their addresses before being sent to serve their sentences.

Among them are Novak Đukić – convicted for the crime at Tuzla Gate, Boško Lukić – convicted for crimes in Ključ, Miroslav Duka – convicted for crimes in Bileća, Mićo Jurišić – convicted for crimes in the Prijedor area, Momir Savić – convicted for crimes in Višegrad, as well as Mirko Todorović – convicted for crimes in Bratunac.

In addition to them, arrest warrants were issued for Ilija Jurić and Jozo Đojić, who were convicted in separate cases for crimes in Odžak, Dragan Marjanović, convicted for crimes in Teslić, and Dragomir Kezunović, whose sentence from the Court of BiH was reduced from 14 to five years in prison by the Appellate Court in Belgrade, Simo Stupar, convicted for crimes in Vlasenica, and Sakib Mahmuljin, convicted for crimes in Zavidovići. In BiH, according to data from January, there are 172 active arrest warrants against individuals unavailable for war crimes.