Vuk Ratkovic

When the trial of a group of Serb fighters accused of the abductions and killings of passengers who were seized from a train in Bosnia during the war in 1993 continues at Belgrade Higher Court next month, there will be one fewer defendant in the dock.

Ljubisa Vasiljevic, a wartime Serb paramilitary fighter who was one of five defendants in the Strpci trial at Belgrade Higher Court, has died.

Belgrade Higher Court told BIRN that Vasiljevic died on July 6 and that "due to that fact, the court adopted a decision to suspend the proceedings [against him] on August 16, 2021".

Vuk Ratkovic, a former member of the Bosnian Serb Army's Visegrad Brigade, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping a woman several times during the war, has died, his defence lawyer told BIRN on Monday.

"He died and was buried yesterday at a cemetery in Visegrad," said lawyer Zorana Carkic.

Former Bosnian Serb soldier Vuk Ratkovic’s conviction for the multiple rape of a women in Visegrad during the war in 1992 and 1993 was upheld on appeal.

Former Bosnian Serb soldier Vuk Ratkovic was sentenced to eight years in prison for the repeated rape of a woman in Visegrad during the war in 1992 and 1993.

In its closing statement, the prosecution urged the Bosnian state court to convict former soldier Vuk Ratkovic of torturing, abusing and raping a Serb woman in Visegrad during wartime.

Former Bosnian Serb Army soldier Vuk Ratkovic - charged with torturing, abusing and raping a Serb woman in Visegrad during wartime because she was married to a Bosniak - went on trial in Sarajevo.

Former Bosnian Serb Army serviceman Vuk Ratkovic was accused of torturing, abusing, raping and beating a victim on several occasions in the Visegrad area from 1992 to 1993.