Bosnian State Court sentenced in a first-instance verdict Miroslav Markovic to 13 years in prison for a crime committed in the eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the summer of 1992.

Markovic was found guilty of participating in the murders of at least 67 Bosniak civilians in the village of Lokanj near Zvornik on July 14, 1992, who were heading from Teocak to the Sapna area.

The court established that Markovic, as a member of the Lokanjska Unit of the Bosnian Serb Army, was aware of the widespread and systematic attack that took place in the wider area of Zvornik in 1992. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity.

“Given that a broad and systematic attack lasted for a long period of time and that a large number of non-Serbs were persecuted, Markovic must have known this, given the events in Kozluk, Karakaj and Djulici,” said the court panel chairman Saban Maksumic.

According to the apanel, most of the participants of the convoy had no weapons and did not offer much resistance.

“The fact that several people carried weapons and participated in the conflict does not diminish the civilian character of the column,” said Maksumic, adding that the people in the convoy intended to reach “free territory” and had no plan of organising an attack.

Determining the sentence, the court took into account the mitigating circumstances that the defendant was 20 years old at the time the crime was committed, that he had no previous convictions and that he was a family man, while the aggravating factors were the recklessness in killing a large number of people.

Markovic, who lives in Austria, did not appear before the court. His defence attorney, Dragan Gotovac, said that the defendant also had problems during the trial due to his absence from work, and that he was not present since it was not mandatory.

Earlier, in another case, Ljiljan Mitrovic, Mile Vujevic, Vukasin Draskovic and Gojko Stevanovic were sentenced to a total of 53 years in prison, while Goran Maksimovic, Slavko Peric, Rajo Lazarevic and Mico Manojlovic were acquitted of charges.