EXPECTING FAIR SECOND-INSTANCE VERDICT FOR DURAKOVIĆ

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 30 /SRNA/ – The sentence of three and a half years in prison handed down to the commander of the 43rd Brigade of the so-called Army of BiH Ramiz Duraković for a war crime against Serb civilians in the Čajniče area, is further proof of how much Serb lives are worth for the judiciary of BiH, said Viktor Nuždić, Acting Director of the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons.

"For years we have been warning that the judiciary at the BiH level takes a selective approach, and with this shameful sentence, we are once again receiving confirmation of how little Serb lives are worth in the eyes of these institutions," Nuždić told SRNA. He emphasized that the families of Serb victims have been waiting for years for indictments, while in the meantime, both witnesses and perpetrators have been dying, and then, after more than 30 years, the court delivers a verdict that only further humiliates the victims. He expects that the BiH judiciary will render a fair second-instance verdict in the case of Duraković. Nuždić concluded that it is the duty of the institutions of Republika Srpska not to forget what happened during the past war and to preserve the memory of Serb victims. The Court of BiH initially sentenced commander of the so-called Army of BiH's 43rd Brigade Ramiz Duraković to three years and six months in prison for war crimes against Serb civilians in the Čajniče area in 1993. Duraković was convicted in the first-instance verdict for the murder of Darinka Pijević and the burning of the houses of Rajko and Miloš Pijević.