Citation: IT-00-39
Link to the full case: http://www.icty.org/case/krajisnik/4
Date of Trial Judgment: 27 September 2007
Date of Appeal Judgment: 17 March 2009
Momčilo Krajišnik was a member among the leadership of the SDS and President of the Bosnian Serb Assembly. He was tried for allegedly having planned, instigated, ordered or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation, or execution of crimes by himself and subordinates against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats in municipalities in and around the Republika Srpska. He was charged on the basis of both individual and superior criminal responsibility, of genocide and complicity in genocide; crimes against humanity for persecutions, extermination, murder, deportation, and inhumane acts of forced transfer; and violations of the laws or customs of war for murder.
The Trial Chamber convicted Krajišnik of crimes against humanity for persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, and forced transfer as an inhumane act and acquitted him on all other charges, in 2006.
The prosecution appealed and sought to extend his imprisonment to a life term. However, in 2009, the Appeals Chamber rejected the prosecution’s appeal and granted Krajišnik’s request for self-representation and allowed him to have a legal representative to address the joint criminal enterprise. It found that the Trial Chamber committed a legal error in failing to make the findings necessary for certain crimes not included in the original common objective of the joint criminal enterprise, including persecution, extermination, and murder. It quashed the convictions, and reduced Krajišnik’s sentence to 20 years from the original 27 years imprisonment.
Summary based on notes from the IJRC