Anger at Short Sentence for Prison Killer

A Bosnian man whose relatives died at the notorious Keraterm camp in 1992 has told IWPR of his fury with the sentence of only eight years handed down this week to a Serb guard at the prison.

The Hague tribunal pronounced the sentence on Predrag Banovic, 34, on October 28 after he confessed to taking part in five killings and 27 beatings at the camp.

Keraterm was one of a number of camps set up outside the eastern Bosnian town of Prijedor in 1992. According to the indictment against Banovic and other guards at the detention centre, "conditions were abject and brutal", and "detainees were continuously subjected to or forced to witness inhumane acts".

Edin Ramulic told IWPR that his father Uzeir and three nephews were killed the same night that the five other murders to which Banovic confessed took place. Two other relatives also held at the camp have also been missing since that night.

"Is that not a crime of enormous proportions?" he said, referring to the four, possibly six killings of his relatives.

Ramulic is incensed at the eight-year sentence Banovic got for five murders. "This monster will soon be enjoying freedom, and this is a fact that should worry not only the Muslims but also the Serbs of Prijedor," he said. "I cannot imagine that any normal person would like to have that kind of a psychopath in their neighbourhood. Do they not fear for their own children?"

His condemnation was echoed by the Prijedor victims' association, Izvor.

"The Hague tribunal is losing its credibility," said a statement from the group. "It will not fulfil any of its proclaimed aims in such a manner."

With good behaviour, Banovic is likely to serve only six years - just over one year for each of the men he killed. He has already spent more than 700 days in detention, so he is likely to be out of jail less than three years from now.

Banovic, a former waiter, pleaded guilty in June to crimes against humanity after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. In exchange for admitting these crimes, four other counts against him were dropped by prosecutors.

Prosecutors said they dropped charges against Banovic's twin brother Nenad because of lack of evidence.

Predrag Banovic admitted taking part in some of the worst brutalities of the Bosnian war. During his time at Keraterm in 1992, he admitted systematic abuses against Muslim prisoners.

This included ritual beatings, torture and humiliation. The judges said they had heard evidence about the conditions at Keraterm, where food was meagre, a change of clothes non-existent and prisoners were routinely executed, tortured or made the object of sadistic games.

"The trial chamber has found the accused abused his position while on duty at the camp, mistreating and humiliating detainees in total disregard of human life and dignity," said Judge Patrick Robinson.

But the judges also said that Banovic should get credit for pleading guilty.

And they added that he deserved support for saying he was sorry, for having an otherwise clean criminal record and because he has a family. "The trial chamber has taken into account as a mitigating factor the fact that the accused is now married and has a child," said Robinson.

Some war crimes law experts have questioned the sentence, saying it seems too short. "The Hague's sentencing policy is all over the place," said one international law attorney, speaking on condition of anonymity. "In England, if you do just one murder, the sentence is mandatory - it is life."

All sides in the courtroom were in agreement with the Banovic verdict. Defence and prosecution lawyers asked for eight years, and the judges agreed.

In Bosnia, this controversy comes on top of anger after the prosecutor's announcement last week that the late president, Alija Izetbegovic, had been under investigation for war crimes. Many have asked why - given that he is dead and cannot defend himself - such a statement should be made with no further substantiation.

Nerma Jelacic is IWPR project manager in Bosnia. Chris Stephen is IWPR project manager in The Hague.