Bosnian war crimes sentence cancelled in Norway

The Supreme Court in Norway has cancelled the sentencing of a Bosnia-born man found guilty of war crimes, saying the law could not be applied retroactively.

Mirsad Repak, 44, was sentenced to five years in jail in December 2008 for crimes committed against Serbs in 1992, but an appeals court reduced his sentenced by six months in April this year. The sentencing was however cancelled outright last week by the Supreme Court, which claimed that the country’s war crimes law, which was enforced in 2005, cannot be applied to Repak’s 1992 actions.

Repak, a former member of the Croatian HOS military, became a Norwegian citizen in 2001 having lived in the country since 1993.

Next year the court will rule on a “deprivation of liberty” charge which Repak could still be jailed for. The 44-year-old allegedly took part in violence against Serbs at the Dretelj detention camp in southern Bosnia. The facility became famous during the Bosnia war for the guards’ brutality.

Repak is accused of leading an interrogation session in which a woman was burned with a cigarette, beaten with a stick and cut on her face and breasts.