The Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has confirmed the sentences of ten individuals convicted of war crimes committed in Novi Grad, totaling 162 years in prison.

The second-instance ruling rejected as unfounded the appeals filed by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the defense attorneys of Ranko Balaban, Rajko Karlica, Milenko Brcin, Mirko Odzic, Ratko Goronja, Nikola Reljic, Dragan and Ranko Baltic, and Miroslav Kapetanovic. The appeal by Ranko Balaban's wife was also dismissed.

The judgment notes that the defense of Milenko Babic did not file an appeal against the first-instance verdict, thereby leaving his sentence unchanged.

During the appeal hearings, Damir Alagic, Babic's attorney, asserted that he had submitted a written appeal but could not explain why it was not received by the court. After a brief recess, the panel announced that no evidence of the appeal's submission was found, thus rejecting Alagic's request to present it and granting him until Friday to provide proof.

In the first-instance verdict from November 2023, Ranko Balaban, Ratko Goronja, Nikola Reljic, Mirko Odzic, and Ranko and Dragan Baltic were each sentenced to 18 years in prison. Rajko Karlica, Milenko Brcin, and Milenko Babic received 15 years each, while Miroslav Kapetanovic was sentenced to nine years for crimes committed in Novi Grad, reports Detektor.

The appellate judgment indicates that the witness testimonies, when analyzed collectively, corroborate each other and provide a clear conclusion about the role of the accused. The defense primarily disputed the testimonies of witnesses Dragan Balaban, Stojan, and Zoran Kenjalo, who had entered plea agreements.

“The testimonies are consistent and mutually reinforcing regarding key facts, leading to a clear conclusion about the defendants’ roles. The panel notes that the defenses selectively evaluated witness statements, focusing on non-decisive aspects, unlike the first-instance panel which considered the testimonies in their entirety, determining that they provided an objective account of the incriminated events,” the Appellate Division's judgment states.

Regarding the reliability of witnesses Dragan Balaban, and Stojan and Zoran Kenjalo, the appellate panel found that the first-instance court provided a detailed assessment of their credibility, establishing that their testimonies are a reliable basis for determining key facts.

Stojan Kenjalo and Balaban were previously sentenced to seven years each, and Zoran Kenjalo to five years.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina charged them with the persecution of Bosniak civilians—murders, forced relocations, torture, and other inhumane acts.

According to the indictment, as members of the Army of the Republika Srpska, police, and paramilitary formations, on June 22, 1992, following the funeral of a killed Serbian soldier, the armed group of over 20 soldiers attacked the villages of Alice and Ekice.

There, they forced the Bosniak civilian population out of their homes under the threat of death, firing and shouting at them, and led them towards an Orthodox cemetery. The men were beaten with rifle butts, fists, and kicks, while women and children watched.

“Subsequently, around 90 men were separated and taken to a Muslim cemetery, forced to dig a grave and stand around it, after which the armed soldiers were ordered to form a firing squad and begin shooting,” was stated during the first-instance verdict.

During this event, 24 men were killed, and their bodies were found at various locations, as the grave was exhumed, and the bodies were transferred to a river. The remains of all the killed have not yet been found.

This judgment is final and not subject to further appeal.