Defense lawyers for the former president of Bratunac’s Crisis Staff, who pleaded guilty to ordering an attack on the village of Glogova in May 1992 in which 65 civilians were killed, filed a notice of appeal against the judgment sentencing him to 10 years in prison.


Miroslav Deronjic’s defense counsel filed a notice of appeal against the 30 March 2004 judgment sentencing him to 10 years in prison. The former president of the Crisis Staff in Bratunac pleaded guilty to ordering an attack on the village of Glogova in May 1992 in which 65 civilians were killed, many houses were destroyed and burned and about 2,000 Bosniaks were forced to leave. A majority passed the judgment, with Judge Wolfgang Schomburg dissenting. He asked for a sentence twice as long: at least 20 years in prison.

In his plea agreement, Deronjic undertook to fully cooperate with prosecutors, and he has already testified as a prosecution witness in five trials. Because of this, prosecutors recommended a substantially reduced sentence – 10 years in prison – which was accepted by the majority of judges in the Trial Chamber.

Deronjic, however, is not happy and put the Appeals Chamber on notice that he intends to appeal the judgment on four grounds: Deronjic believes that the Trial Chamber erred when it "expanded and changed" the factual allegations in the indictment; it failed to give proper weight to the mitigating circumstances while at the same time overestimating the aggravating circumstances; and it erred when it refused to consider his character and conduct in mitigation. Deronjic seeks the commutation of his sentence on all of these grounds. In the notice of appeal there are no concrete sentencing proposals, but in the proceedings so far, the defense has been asking for a maximum of six years.

Since the prosecution did not appeal the judgment that granted its sentencing recommendation, Deronjic does not run the risk of the Appeals Chamber imposing a more severe sentence, more in line with Schomburg's proposal. At worst, Deronjic could have his original judgment – 10 years in prison – confirmed. Since the appellate proceedings will take quite some time, Deronjic will remain in the UN Detention Unit. Had he not appealed, he would have had to move to a real prison in one of the countries where those convicted by the Tribunal serve their sentences.

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