Case No. AP 126/08, on the appeal of Gojko Janković, Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, (2011)
Between April 1992 and November 1993, during the Bosnian War, Gojko Janković, the leader of a small military unit of the Republika Srpska, participated in a widespread and systematic attack on the Bosniak civilian population of Foča. Janković’s unit methodically captured civilians, detained them separately according to gender, and killed dozens of men. During this time, Janković raped at least five women and girls, and the soldiers under his command raped many more. In addition, Janković and a co-perpetrator kept two teenage girls in sexual slavery at a nearby house for over one year. In 2005, Janković voluntarily surrendered and was transferred to the detention of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”). Shortly thereafter, the Referral Bench of the ICTY referred Janković’s case to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (“BiH”). In 2007, the Court found Janković guilty of crimes against humanity under Article 172(1) of the Criminal Code of BiH and sentenced him to 34 years of imprisonment. In 2010, Janković appealed his conviction to the Constitutional Court of BiH, arguing that the Court of BiH had convicted him under a law, the Criminal Code of BiH, which did not exist at the time his crimes were committed. However, the Constitutional Court concluded that there had been no arbitrariness in the application of the Criminal Code of BiH because, according to international customary law, Janković’s conduct was criminal at the time it occurred, and due to the fact that the law applied was more lenient than the law in effect at the time Janković committed the criminal offense. As such, the Constitutional Court dismissed Janković’s appeal as unfounded.
AP 126/08, apelacija Gojka Jankovića, Ustavni sud Bosne i Hercegovine, 19. novembar 2011
Između aprila 1992. i novembra 1993. godine, tokom rata u Bosni, Gojko Janković, vođa male vojne jedinice Republike Srpske, učestvovao je u široko rasprostranjenom i sistematskom napadu na nesrpsko civilno stanovništvo Foče. Jankovićeva jedinica je metodično hvatala civile, pritvarala ih odvojeno po spolu i ubila desetine muškaraca. Tokom tog vremena, Janković je silovao najmanje pet djevojčica i žena, a vojnici pod njegovom komandom silovali su još mnogo više. Osim toga, Janković i saizvršilac su držali dvije tinejdžerke u seksualnom ropstvu u obližnjoj kući više od godinu dana. Godine 2005. Janković se dobrovoljno predao i prebačen je u pritvor Međunarodnog krivičnog suda za bivšu Jugoslaviju („MKSJ“). Ubrzo nakon toga, Vijeće za prosljeđivanje MKSJ-a proslijedilo je Jankovićev slučaj Sudu Bosne i Hercegovine („BIH“). Sud je 2007. godine proglasio Jankovića krivim za zločine protiv čovječnosti prema članu 172(1) Krivičnog zakona BiH i osudio ga na 34 godine zatvora. Janković se 2010. godine žalio na presudu Ustavnom sudu BiH, tvrdeći da ga je Sud BiH osudio po zakonu, Krivičnom zakonu BiH, koji nije postojao u vrijeme kada su njegovi zločini počinjeni. Međutim, Ustavni sud je zaključio da nije bilo proizvoljnosti u primjeni Krivičnog zakona BiH jer je, prema međunarodnom običajnom pravu, Jankovićevo ponašanje bilo krivično djelo u vrijeme kada se dogodilo, te zbog činjenice da je primijenjeni zakon bio blaži od zakona koji je bio na snazi u vrijeme kada je Janković počinio krivično djelo. Kao takvu, Ustavni sud je odbacio Jankovićevu žalbu kao neosnovanu.