Appeal of Gojko Janković, War Criminal from Foča, Rejected

(Patria) - The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has rejected as inadmissible the appeal of Gojko Janković, the leader of a paramilitary formation from Foča sentenced to 34 years in prison for crimes against humanity.

"The appeal of Gojko Janković is rejected as inadmissible," states the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina from September 19 this year.

Janković, who is serving a long-term prison sentence in the Foča Correctional Facility, filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court after the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2017 rejected the reopening of the proceedings that had been finally concluded before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Janković sought the reopening of the proceedings, in his opinion, due to new relevant facts and evidence that were covered and should have been included in relation to the actions from the indictment, and that the criminal law of the former Yugoslavia, which is more lenient for him, should have been applied to the crime for which he was convicted. He filed this appeal on October 10, 2017, after the State Court rejected his request for reopening of the proceedings on August 29 of the same year.

He submitted a supplement to the appeal to the Constitutional Court on September 16, 2019, BIRN reports.

In the supplement to the appeal to the Constitutional Court, he stated that he believes there was a violation of his right to defense and a fair trial.

Janković was sentenced to a long-term prison sentence of 34 years for crimes against humanity by a decision of the Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 19, 2007.

From April 1992, he was the head of a smaller paramilitary formation that operated within the IV Battalion of the Foča Tactical Group of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS).

By the decision of the Appellate Chamber, Janković was acquitted on one count of the indictment, in which the Prosecutor's Office charged him with, together with another person, between April 7 and the end of May 1992, repeatedly raping or participating in the rape of protected witness "E", who lived in the area of the Foča municipality.

During the evidentiary proceedings, the Prosecutor's Office subsequently added this count to the existing indictment, in which Janković was charged on nine counts.

The decision of the Appellate Chamber confirmed the first-instance verdict rendered on February 16, 2007, by which Gojko Janković was found guilty of rapes, torture, and holding in sexual slavery. Among the most serious crimes for which he was found guilty are the rape of 12-year-old AB in the "Karaman house" in the village of Miljevina near Foča, and the multiple rapes of several minors aged 15, 16, and 17.

Protected witness "186" was held by Janković in sexual slavery for several months at several locations in and around Foča, for which he was also found guilty.

He was also found guilty of forced displacement of the population, unlawful detention, murders, and torture of Bosniaks from the area of the Foča municipality, which he committed as the leader of a paramilitary formation.

The indictment against Gojko Janković was initially filed before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). After eight years of hiding, Janković surrendered in March 2005, was then transferred to the detention unit in Scheveningen, but on December 8, 2005, the entire case was transferred to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The case of Gojko Janković is the second case that the Hague Tribunal transferred to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina for further processing.