FORMER HVO MEMBER SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR IN PRISON FOR CRIME AGAINST SERB CIVILIAN

DOBOJ, OCTOBER 30 /SRNA/ - The Doboj District Court has sentenced former Croatian Defense Council /HVO/ member Dražen Čičak /61/ at first instance to one year in prison for a crime against a Serb civilian in May 1992 at the camp in the JNA Hall in Derventa.

Čičak was found guilty of inflicting bodily injuries on a civilian of Serb ethnicity in early May 1992, as an HVO member, at the camp in the JNA Hall building.

The court explained that the civilian was questioned about where weapons were located, during which he was handcuffed to a radiator and beaten for two hours with feet, fists, a baton and a pistol butt on the head and other parts of the body, causing him to lose consciousness.

"In one of the rooms on the upper floor, in the presence of S. M. and E. K, also HVO members, he interrogated prisoner N. B. about his membership in the SDS and his participation in the fighting around Čardak near Derventa, asking him why he had not joined the HVO and the Territorial Defense together with them," the court said.

The verdict may be appealed before the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska. /end/msb/nm