Bošković sentenced to ten years in prison: Told the Zvornik boy he could go, then shot him in the head

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Srećko Bošković to ten years in prison for the murder of a 15-year-old boy on July 15, 1995, at a dam in the Zvornik area, BIRN reported, as carried by the Patria news agency.

The trial chamber established that Bošković, at the site of mass killings of Bosniaks from the Srebrenica area, shot the boy in the head after previously telling him he could go.

- The accused told the boy: ‘You are free, you can go’, and when he started moving towards the forest, he shot him in the head”, the Chamber concluded. According to the Chamber's assessment, Bošković exploited the boy's helplessness and vulnerability, committing this act out of malice.

Explaining the verdict, presiding Chamber judge Zoran Božić said that the fact Bošković was not a soldier does not mean he could not have committed a war crime.

Also, he added, the fact that the boy was not identified does not mean he did not exist. Two prosecution witnesses, as he explained, confirmed they had seen the boy.

- The verdict is based on the testimony of witness SB-1 and the statement of Milorad Kucalović from the investigation, which are truthful and convincing - Božić said.

Kucalović changed his testimony during the trial, and his explanation was not logical for the Chamber.

- Kucalović said in the investigation that a dark-haired young man shot the boy in the back of the head. SB-1 said he heard one or two shots and, from a distance of three to five meters, saw the accused walking with a rifle held upright in his hand. Jovo Lazić asked him why he killed him, and the accused said the boy started to run away - Božić said.

The Chamber considered as aggravating circumstances the recklessness of the accused and the fact that he exploited the helplessness and vulnerability of a person who was a civilian.

- As mitigating factors, it was considered that the accused is a father of two children, has no prior convictions, and was 20 years old at the time of the offense - Božić said.

Restrictive measures against Bošković have been extended, and an appeal against this verdict is allowed to the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, NAP reports.