Vujadin Popović (14 March 1957, Popovići,

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

) is a

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

war criminal, who participated in the

War in Bosnia and Herzegovina The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

and was convicted of

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to life in prison. He was Lieutenant Colonel and the Chief of Security of the Drina Corps of the

Army of Republika Srpska The Army of Republika Srpska ( sr, Војска Републике Српске/Vojska Republike Srpske; ВРС/VRS), commonly referred to in English as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of Republika Srpska (RS), the self-proclaimed Serb ...

. In 1995, he was present and on duty in the Drina Corps zone of responsibility, which included Srebrenica, Potocari, Bratunac and Zvornik. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted Vujadin Popović for genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, forcible transfer, and deportation. These crimes allegedly took place between July and November 1995. On 26 March 2002, the ICTY issued an indictment against him for his role in the

Srebrenica Massacre The Srebrenica massacre ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Masakr u Srebrenici, Масакр у Сребреници), also known as the Srebrenica genocide ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Genocid u Srebrenici, Геноцид у Сребрен ...

.After a while he decided to surrender and he was transferred to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

on 14 April 2005. Four days later, he appeared in the chamber and pleaded "not guilty". On 10 June 2010, the Trial Chamber brought a verdict that he was present with the Bosnian Serb forces in Potočari on 12 July and was aware of the large number of men among the thousands of

Bosnian Muslim The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

s gathered at Potočari on that day. The Trial Chamber was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Popović was fully engaged in the organisation of the killing operation being carried out in the

Zvornik Zvornik ( sr-cyrl, Зворник, ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in Republika Srpska, on the left bank of the Drina river. In 2013, it had a population of 58,856 inhabitants. The town of Mali Zvornik ("Little Zvornik") lies ...

area. The Trial Chamber found that Popović was a member of the

Joint criminal enterprise Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine used during war crimes tribunals to allow the prosecution of members of a group for the actions of the group. This doctrine considers each member of an organized group individually responsib ...

(JCE) to murder the Bosnian Muslim males of Srebrenica, and that he participated in that JCE with persecutory intent. He was convicted of

, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to life in prison. On 8 September 2010 the defence and the prosecution filed their notices of appeal. The Appeals Chamber granted the defence request to vary the order of arguments in the appeal brief. On 30 January 2015 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2020, his request for early release was denied.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Popovic, Vujadin 1957 births Living people Army of Republika Srpska soldiers People convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia People indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Denmark Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted of genocide Bosnian genocide perpetrators

See also

References