Eurasia Press & News
A Bosnian court sentenced Bozidar Kuvelja to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the massacres in 1995.Kuvelja was found guilty of expelling the Bosniak population and participating in the murder of men who were being held in agricultural warehouses in Kravica after being brought from Srebrenica.
After mass executions in Kravica on July 13, 1995, on the morning of the following day, Kuvelja opened fire on survivors with a machine gun.
“He said that he fired below and above the prisoners, and that he did not see whether the bullets caught anyone. The [trial] chamber had no doubts that he did fire shots at that time,” said presiding judge Jasmina Kosovic.
But Kuvelja, who worked at a training centre for Republika Srpska’s Special Police Brigade, was not convicted of genocide.
However, the trial “did not establish he was aware of the intention to annihilate”, said Kosovic.
The court also recognised that the defendant was drawn into the war against his will, and that he was carrying out orders from his superiors.
Kuvelja has the option to appeal against the verdict.
