Drazen Erdemovic was found guilty of a violation of the laws or customs of war. The Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia sentenced him to 5 years' imprisonment on 5 March 1998.
Charges

• Drazen Erdemovic was part of an execution squad that murdered hundreds of Bosnian Muslim civilian men between the age of 17 and 60, and himself killed approximately 100 persons.

Proceedings

• On 31 May 1996 Drazen Erdemovic entered a guilty plea on the count of crimes against humanity.

Judgement

• On 29 November 1996, Drazen Erdemovic was sentenced to 10 years\' imprisonment by the ICTY.

Appeal

• On 23 December 1996, the Accused appealed against the sentencing judgement, seeking either acquittal or review of the sentence.

Appeals Chamber

• Judges: Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, Antonio Cassese, Ninian Stephen, Lal Chand Vohrah.
• Prosecutor: Grant Niemann, Payam Akhavan.
• Defence: Jovan Babic.

Judgement

• On 7 October 1997, the Appeals Chamber rejected the applications for acquittal or review of the sentence but ordered that the case be « remitted to a Trial Chamber other than the one which sentenced the Appellant in order that he be given an opportunity to replead » : a majority of four judges of the Appeals Chamber (which consists of five Judges) found that the initial guilty plea entered by the Accused in May 1996 « was not informed » in that the Accused « did not understand the nature of the charges against him and the distinction between the alternative charges (...) In electing to plead guilty to a crime against humanity instead of a war crime the Appellant pleaded guilty to the more serious offense and the one entailing a heavier penalty ».
• On 14 January 1998 Drazen Erdemovic appeared before Trial Chamber II and pleaded guilty to a charge of a violation of the laws or customs of war (« war crimes »).

Trial Chamber II

• Judges: Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba, Mohamed Shahabuddeen, Wang Tieya.
• Prosecutor: Grant Niemann, Peter McCloskey.
• Defence: Jovan Babic, Nikola Kostic.

Judgement

• Trial Chamber II reviewed the evidence before it and eventually accepted « as fact the version of events which the parties have submitted ».
• It considered as mitigating circumstances, inter alia, the personal circumstances of the accused, namely his age (« he is now 26 years old...he is reformable... »), his family situation (« the accused has a wife, who is of different ethnic origin, and the couple have a young child who was born on 21 October 1994... ») and his guilty plea. The Chamber also took duress in consideration by way of mitigation: there was a real risk that Drazen Erdemovic would have been killed had he disobeyed the order (« He voiced his feelings, but realised that he had no choice in the matter: he had to kill or be killed.. »).
• On 5 March 1998, the ICTY sentenced Drazen Erdemovic was sentenced to 5 years\' imprisonment.