Humanitarian Law Fund reaction: Sentences in Serbia for the crime in Štrpci are too lenient

(Patria) - The sentences handed down for the war crime in Štrpci by the Higher Court in Belgrade are too lenient compared to the severity of the crime and the consequences that persist thirty years later, the non-governmental Humanitarian Law Fund (FHP) announced today.

The FHP reacted to yesterday's verdict under which four former members of Bosnian Serb forces were sentenced to a total of 35 years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population.

Gojko Lukić, Duško Vasiljević, and Jovan Lipovac were sentenced by the Higher Court in Belgrade to prison terms of ten years each, and Dragan Đekić to a prison term of five years for the abduction of passengers from a train in the town of Štrpci, abuse, torture, and murder of 20 civilians of non-Serb nationality on February 27, 1993. The Higher Court in Belgrade sentenced Gojko Lukić, Duško Vasiljević, and Jovan Lipovac to prison terms of ten years each, and Dragan Đekić to a prison term of five years for the abduction of passengers from a train in the town of Štrpci, abuse, torture, and murder of 20 civilians of non-Serb nationality on February 27, 1993.

"With the excessively lenient sentence, the Higher Court in Belgrade has sent a message to the victims' families that, although they have waited 30 years for those responsible for the murder of their family members to finally be adequately punished, their suffering and pain are not recognized as important," the FHP stated.

For the crime in Štrpci, the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office of Serbia filed an indictment in May 2018 against Gojko Lukić, Duško Vasiljević, Ljubiša Vasiljević, and Dragana Đekić, members of the paramilitary formation "Osvetnici" (Avengers), as well as against Jovan Lipovac, a member of the VRS.

The FHP believes that the sentences handed down are "too lenient, especially considering that all abducted passengers were civilians, that they were citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who were taken off the train because they were Bosniaks, that after the abduction they were abused and tortured, and then murdered with their hands tied behind their backs with wire".

The youngest victim was 16-year-old student Senad Đečević. Also, to this day, the remains of only four victims have been found, while 16 are still listed as missing.

In its statement, the FHP states that it expects the Appellate Court in Belgrade to accept the appeal of the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office and to "impose significantly higher sentences on the defendants that correspond to the severity of this crime".

The FHP also reminds that for the murder of civilians in Štrpci, Nebojša Ranisavljević was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the court in Bijelo Polje in 2002.

Furthermore, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2022 and 2023, handed down first-instance sentences of 13 and 15 years in prison respectively to eight members of the VRS for this crime.

"Given that this is the same crime and involves members of the same group, it is unclear for what reason the court in Serbia imposed significantly lower prison sentences for this crime," the FHP added.