A special panel chaired by Judge Nada Rabrenović, today at the Higher Court in Podgorica, sentenced the defendant Slobodan Peković, formerly known as Ćurčić, to 20 years in prison for the criminal offense of war crimes against the civilian population.
After the first-instance verdict was announced, the court issued a decision ordering Peković to be detained, which was served on him in the courtroom. He was then detained and will be transferred to the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions.
Peković came to the sentencing with his family, and defended himself from freedom, after his detention expired because a verdict had not been pronounced within three years.
Special Prosecutor Tanja Čolan Deretić briefly told reporters that the prosecution was satisfied with the court's verdict.
In explaining the verdict, Judge Rabrenović gave brief reasons.
“The defendant Slobodan Peković denied the crime, stating that he could not have killed Emina and Mujo Šabanović in the village of Hum on June 1992, 1992, on the border between Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, because he was in Plužine, where Gojković and Obren fought. When checking the defense's allegations, it was not proven that he was in Plužine, but in the village of Hum, where witnesses saw him and recognized him as a member of the Republika Srpska army. The crucial witness is Ramiza Grcić, whose testimony leaves no doubt that Peković, whose previous surname was Ćurčić, was in the village of Hum, where he was recognized. The defendant was wearing a scarf over his head that day so that he would not be recognized. Based on the forensic medical examination, it was determined that Mujo and Emina Šabanović were shot in the chest, shoulder and leg. The nature of the death is homicidal. Muharem Šabanović said that his father Mujo was killed, but that he was not an eyewitness "The witness Hatidža Šabanović said that on June XNUMX, XNUMX, the war began in their village of Hum, and when she went home, she found a horrific sight - the burnt body of Mujo Šabanović. The defendant Peković was armed with an automatic rifle," said, among other things, judge Rabrenović in the explanation of the verdict.
She added that it was proven that Peković raped the injured party A1, who testified that a certain Vuković told her to undress and then put the barrel of a gun in her mouth. She stated that she was raped several times in the apartment, and that Peković raped her from behind in an extremely rough manner.
"Peković took A 1 from the 'Prvi Partizan' hall to an apartment with her child. Instead of helping her, he took her to an apartment in the building, so it is clear that that apartment was used for rape. The defendant was aware of his actions. In the murder of Emina and Mujo Šabanović, he did not show any compassion, although he had previously come to their house and eaten and drank," said Judge Rabrenović in the explanation of the verdict.
An aggravating circumstance when determining the sentence was his previous convictions. As the judge read out, Peković was sentenced in Frankfurt in 2006 to three years and nine months in prison for aggravated robbery, two years and nine months in prison for illicit trafficking, and ten and a half years in prison for participating in aggravated robbery.
According to the indictment, on June 8, 1992, during a military attack on the village of Hum, which belongs to the Municipality of Foča, the defendant Peković killed Mujo and Emina Šabanović. After Emina Šabanović said that there were no weapons in the house, Peković hit her on the head several times with a wooden shovel handle, then grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to Mujo Šabanović's house, where he killed them both by shooting them with an automatic weapon. Their bodies were burned in the fire that Peković set on fire in Mujo Šabanović's house.
According to the indictment, in early September 1992, Peković raped a woman who had been granted protected witness status.
It is added that with several other uniformed persons from the "Partizan" sports hall in Foča, with the alleged intention of saving them, he took the protected witness - the injured party with her minor daughter and two other people and their five children - out and took them to an apartment located near the then SJB in Foča, where a group of soldiers were located. With threats, Peković and another man raped the protected witness, after which they took her out of that room.
Lawyer Tomović: The court has established all indisputable facts
Attorney Dalibor Tomović, attorney for injured party A1, provided an overview of today's first-instance verdict.
"This is the first verdict in the Montenegrin judiciary when it comes to a war crime when there is an act of rape. I believe that the court has established all indisputable facts beyond reasonable doubt and that these facts are supported by evidence regarding all actions that constitute the hallmark of a war crime. Considering all the circumstances of this case, I believe that the sentence is proportionate to the extent of the war crime. The acts of rape described in detail before the court by A1 were confirmed by the testimony of another protected witness A2, who described in detail how she recognized the defendant," said attorney Tomović.
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