Jukić

The Cantonal Court in Zenica delivered a first-instance verdict on Friday acquitting Ivica Jukic, alias Juka, of mistreating Bosniak prisoners of war at the Silos Nova Trgovina detention facility in Zepce in August 1993.

Presiding judge Enes Malicbegovic said that some of the testimonies from witnesses who had allegedly been mistreated were either contradictory or too similar.

Ruzica Jukic, one of the country's most senior judicial officials, told BIRN on Monday that she has been given police protection after death threats were issued against her on Facebook.

"These threats came from some individuals who called for lynching and hanging. I was granted protection as a preventative measure," Jukic said.

As a gesture of gratitude to former Pope John Paul II, recently procaimed a saint, a statue of the Catholic leader was unveiled in Sarajevo on April 30 to the delight of Bosnian Catholics and many other interested citizens in the mainly Muslim city.

The statue, made from a type of alumimium, represents the former Pontiff in an attitude of prayer.