Two persons convicted of rape committed during the Bosnian war have voluntarily paid 30,000 Bosnian Marks of compensation to their victim, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) reported on Tuesday, adding that this is the first time this has happened.

The information was confirmed by the lawyer of the victim, Nedzla Sehic, who did not want to reveal the identity of her client, adding that the defendants put up their property as a guarantee that the amount will be paid to the victim.

The state court has processed several dozen wartime rape cases until now and since recently judges have been ordering those convicted to pay compensations to their victims in their rulings.

Sehic explained that ensuring that the victims receive the ordered payments is difficult because in the vast majority of the cases, those convicted claim they do not have the money to do so or have already signed off their property to someone else. The compensation orders are only effective when the court bars them from doing so, she said.