Association of Detainees of BiH: What Game Are the Courts and Prosecutors Playing in BiH

The Association of Detainees of BiH condemned the release of Goran Sarić, charged with crimes from 1992 in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Nahorevo, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

By a first-instance verdict of the Court of BiH, Sarić was sentenced to 14 years in prison for crimes in Nahorevo, but the Appellate Chamber of the Court of BiH subsequently acquitted him of those charges.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH found no evidence that Sarić supervised and participated in the separation of three groups of men who were in the Jagomir psychiatric hospital, where they were detained on June 19, 1992. Some of them were later taken to a camp, some were expelled, and a number were killed.

From the Association of Detainees of BiH, they stated that they had previously witnessed the negligence of the ruling structures in BiH, but what affects them most is the fact that even those who should protect the interests of victims, namely the courts and prosecutors, are no more responsible or professional.

- How else to explain the fact that the Court, in a first-instance proceeding for committed war crimes, issues a verdict and sentences the perpetrator to 14 years in prison, which in the second-instance proceeding is changed and the perpetrator is acquitted – state from the Association of Detainees of BiH. Who made a mistake? – they ask in the Association of Detainees of BiH.

Is it the Prosecutor's Office that provided enough facts and evidence for a conviction in the first-instance chamber? Is it the first-instance chamber that, based on insufficient and weak evidence from the prosecution, rendered a guilty verdict? Or perhaps the second-instance chamber is now wrong in acquitting the suspect because his responsibility for the crimes he is charged with in the indictment has not been established beyond a reasonable doubt? And an even more important question, what games are the prosecutors and judicial authorities playing in this country and who is responsible for this farce? – states the announcement from the Association of Detainees of BiH, as reported by Patria.