Court of BiH acquits Gavrilo Stević of charges for fighting in Ukraine

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has acquitted Gavrilo Stević of charges for going to the battlefield in Ukraine and joining paramilitary formations.

Stević is the first person from Bosnia and Herzegovina to be charged with fighting in Ukraine, Detektor.ba reports.

As stated by the presiding judge, Branko Perić, the BiH Prosecutor's Office did not prove the allegations in the indictment, according to which Stević, in July 2014, went via the Pavlovića most border crossing first to Belgrade's "Nikola Tesla" airport, and then to Moscow, and further to Rostov-on-Don in Ukraine, where he joined the paramilitary and para-police formation "Jovan Šević" with several other individuals from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"After assessing the evidence in its entirety, it is not concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the acts he is charged with," said Perić.

In the indictment against Stević, the BiH Prosecutor's Office referred to witness statements claiming that he was "an ordinary soldier" in the Luhansk region and that he "conducted checks of traffic, vehicles, and people at checkpoints," for which he received a salary of 500 euros per month.

According to the indictment, Stević was assisted in his departure to Ukraine by the "Ravnogorski pokret" (Ravnogor Movement), and Bratislav Živković from the "Ravnogorski pokret" traveled from Belgrade with a group of volunteers that included Stević.

The prosecution claimed that the group was initially accommodated in a resort on the banks of the Don River and that in Rostov, they encountered activists of the Russian Volunteer Army and a private company that was looking for "security for humanitarian convoys." According to the prosecution, Russian volunteers were looking for volunteers to fight in Donetsk and Luhansk, and a group of about 15 people traveled from Rostov to the base of the "Novorossiya Army," which was named 'Crimea,' where uniforms and weapons were distributed, and Stević was issued a pistol. The prosecution did not prove the claim that Stević stayed in the Luhansk region for about two months.

The prosecution stated that Stević told prosecutors he was going to Ukraine as a journalist and writer, and that his unit commander and local Cossack ataman had approved it.

There is a possibility to appeal this verdict to the Appellate Panel of the Court of BiH.