Crime in Banski Kovačevac

On 15 March 2010, a verdict (first-instance) was pronounced by the District Court in Belgrade in the Pane Bulat and Rade Vranešević case. They were charged that they committed a war crime against civilians by killing 6 Croats in Banski Kovačevac near Karlovac in March 1992. The Court found them guilty. Bulat was sentenced to 15- and Vranešević to 12 years in prison.

In the second-instance verdict rendered on 14 February 2011, Pane Bulat was sentenced to 20 years and Rade Vranešević to 13 years in prison. 

INDICTMENT

You can read the Indictment of the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia issued on 16 April 2008 here (PDF, 94 KB).

GENERAL INFORMATION

Belgrade District Court

Department: War Crimes Chamber

Chamber: judge Olivera Anđelković, President; judges Tatjana Vuković and Dragan Plazinić, Members

Indictment: issued by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia issued on 16 April 2008

Criminal offence: war crime against civilians under Article 142, paragraph 1 of the KZSRJ in conjunction with Article 22 of the same Act (co-perpetration)

Defendants: Pane Bulat and Rade Vranešević

Victims: 6 killed civilians of Croatian ethnicity (Grga Mihalić, Bara Mihalić, Kata Mihalić, Veronika Krupić, Mara Lesar and Mara Ćerek)

THE COURSE OF THE TRIAL

The main hearing began on 2 September 2008.

The first-instance verdict was pronounced on 15 March 2010.

In the second-instance verdict rendered on 14 February 2011, Pane Bulat was sentenced to 20 years and Rade Vranešević to 13 years in prison.