Halid Covic

Former commander of the 9th Mountain Brigade of the Bosnian Army, Nezir Kazic, received 10 years, while Fadil Covic, former chief of the Public Safety Station in Hadzici, and Becir Hujic, former manager of the Silos detention camp in Tarcin until August 1994, got eight years in prison each.

Mustafa Djelilovic, a senior wartime figure in Bosnia's Hadzici municipality who was being retried for war crimes after his initial conviction was overturned, has died, his defence lawyer told BIRN on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, he passed away on the way to hospital last night," said lawyer Edina Residovic.

The retrial of Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember opened at the Bosnian state court on Tuesday, with the defendants accused of crimes against civilians illegally detained at the Silos camp, the Krupa barracks and the 9th of May elementary school in the Hadzici municipality.

The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court has upheld an appeal by Mustafa Djelilovic and Halid Covic against their convictions for crimes against Serb and Croat civilians illegally detained at the Silos camp, the Krupa barracks and the 9th of May elementary school in the Hadzici municipality.

Their verdicts have been quashed and a new trial ordered.

Lawyers for Mustafa Djelilovic, Fadil Covic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember appealed at the Bosnian state court on Thursday against their convictions for crimes against Serb and Croat civilians illegally detained at the Silos camp, the Krupa barracks and the 9th of May elementary school in the Hadzici municipality.