Bosnian Serb Ex-Policeman Retried for Wartime Rape

The retrial of Dragan Janjic began on Monday at the appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo after part of the first-instance verdict, under which he was sentenced to seven years for rape in the Foca area in August 1992, was quashed.

The hearing opened with the restatement of testimonies given by the woman who was raped and a defence witness.

The appeals chamber also confirmed part of the original verdict, under which he was acquitted of the unlawful arrest of several Bosniaks in 1992.

Under the first-instance verdict handed down in October last year, Janjic was found guilty of hitting and then raping a woman at the Miljevina police station near Foca in August 1992.

He was ordered to pay the victim 15,000 Bosnian marks (about 7,675 euros) in compensation.

But the defence claimed that there had been substantial violations during the criminal proceedings and that the facts of the case had been incorrectly and incompletely determined.

Janjic insisted that he was innocent and had been "unjustly accused".

The trial continues on June 27.