Vidoje Blagojević (born 22 June 1950) is a former commander of the Bratunac Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army who was charged and tried by the

ICTY The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

for his involvement 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 ...

Career

In January 2005 the

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

found him guilty of engaging in

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 Latin ...

and other war crimes and sentenced him to 18 years in prison. On 9 May the ICTY's appeals court reversed the genocide conviction and reduced his sentence to 15 years in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, where he was released early and deported."Blagojevic Acquitted of Complicity in Genocide
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network"], birn.eu.com; accessed 13 April 2015. 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 ...

, during the course of the

Bosnian War 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 ...

, Blagojević rose through the ranks 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 ...

. He participated in the securing and eventual capture of the Srebrenica safe area. He was captured on 10 August 2001 and soon interred at the Hague Tribunal. Blagojević was tried along with Dragan Jokić and Dragan Obrenović. Both pleaded not guilty. Blagojević was eventually found guilty of five of his six charges, while he was acquitted of the charge of extermination as a crime against humanity. On 25 January 2008, he was transferred to

to serve his prison sentence. On 22 December 2012, he was granted early release.

References

External links

ICTY Amended Joinder Indictment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blagojevic, Vidoje 1950 births Living people People from Bratunac Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted of crimes against humanity 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 Norway