Former Bosnian Army soldiers retriald for raping a Serbian girl

Both men were originally sentenced in July 2018 to five and a half years in prison each for raping a Serb minor girl in Sarajevo's Velesic district in May 1993, but the court's appeals chamber annulled the verdict and sent men for retrial.

The damaged “Pala was a civilian minor at the moment of the crime committed. An expert witness's finding determined that its ability to lead a normal life fell by 30 per cent as a result of that act,” prosecutor Marijana Cobovic said in her opening statement.

Kesmer's lawyer, Senad Dupovac, said the defence would drop the charges by arguing that crime did not occur in the manner described in the indictment, that Kesmer was not a Bosnian soldier and that the case involved a crime that was part of a decision issued in 1993.

A third defendant, Elvir Muminovic, was initially sentenced to Kesmerin0 and Menzilovic, but the appeals chamber separated his case from others because he was on the run.

The “Rasts are being divided because the defendant is not available to the court and it is not at all certain when he can become available,” said appeals chamber judge Mirko Bozovic.

Defence lawyer Senad Bilic said Muminovic told him he is in Switzerland.

I can only say that I've been talking to the defendant once after making the decision on the first degree. In this case he told me he was in Switzerland because he has Bosnian citizenship and that country's. He even asked me to inform the court of this. I tried to contact him in different ways after that, but I didn't succeed,” said Bilic.

Muminovic was originally sentenced to six years in prison for his involvement in the rape of the Serbian girl.