The campaign in Foča
From early 1992 into 1993, Bosnian Serb forces carried out a campaign against the non-Serb population of the Foča area. The ICTY found that Muslim civilians—and women in particular—were targeted within a broader effort to remove Muslims from the municipality.
Men were separated from women and children; many were detained at the Foča KP Dom prison. Women and girls were moved through collection and detention sites including Foča High School and the Partizan Sports Hall, as well as private houses and apartments.
Detention, terror and survival
The tribunal heard evidence that detained women and girls were repeatedly taken from guarded sites and subjected to sexual violence. Local institutions that should have protected civilians instead facilitated or ignored the abuse described in the judgments.
The legal record relies heavily on survivor testimony. The archive follows the tribunal’s practice of protected identifiers and centers what the judgments established without turning testimony into graphic narrative.
Dragoljub Kunarac
Kunarac led a reconnaissance unit of the Bosnian Serb Army within the Foča Tactical Group. The Trial Chamber convicted him of torture, rape and enslavement as crimes against humanity, along with torture and rape as violations of the laws or customs of war.
The court found individual acts and assistance to other perpetrators, as well as the enslavement of two women through deprivation of control over their lives. He received 28 years’ imprisonment.
Radomir Kovač
Kovač was a military-police subcommander and paramilitary leader in Foča. He was convicted of enslavement and rape as crimes against humanity and of rape and outrages upon personal dignity as violations of the laws or customs of war.
The judgment found that he detained women and girls in an apartment for months, exercised ownership-like control and transferred victims to others. He received 20 years’ imprisonment.
Zoran Vuković
Vuković, also a military-police subcommander and paramilitary member, was convicted of torture and rape as crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war.
The tribunal’s findings included the rape of a 15-year-old girl taken from the Partizan Sports Hall. He received 12 years’ imprisonment.
Trial and defendant-specific findings
The joint trial began on March 20, 2000. The Trial Chamber delivered judgment on February 22, 2001. Earlier Rule 98 bis proceedings had removed certain allegations, an important reminder that the final convictions were charge- and defendant-specific.
The tribunal did not use collective guilt. Each defendant’s legal responsibility rested on conduct proved beyond the applicable criminal standard, and the sentences differed accordingly.
Final appeal judgment
All three defendants appealed. On June 12, 2002, the Appeals Chamber rejected every ground of appeal and affirmed the convictions and sentences: 28 years for Kunarac, 20 for Kovač and 12 for Vuković.
The appeal judgment also clarified international-law definitions relevant to rape, torture, enslavement and crimes against humanity. Its importance extends beyond the three sentences, but legal precedent must not eclipse the survivors whose evidence made accountability possible.
Sentence enforcement
Kovač and Vuković were transferred to Norway in November 2002; Kunarac was transferred to Germany the following month. The ICTY case sheet records early release for Vuković in 2008 and for Kovač, effective in 2013.
Those release decisions did not overturn the convictions. Kunarac’s 28-year sentence remained the final sentence recorded in the tribunal materials reviewed for this page.
What the case resolved
The case is adjudicated with final convictions for the three defendants. It established their individual responsibility and placed rape and enslavement within the law of crimes against humanity in a detailed international judgment.
It did not prosecute every person involved in Foča, represent every survivor or resolve every crime within the wider campaign. Related ICTY and domestic proceedings must be treated as distinct cases rather than folded into these judgments.
Chronology
- 1992–1993: the Foča campaign and crimes addressed by the indictments occur.
- June 26, 1996: the ICTY confirms its first indictment devoted specifically to sexual offences.
- March 20, 2000: the joint trial begins.
- February 22, 2001: the Trial Chamber convicts all three defendants.
- June 12, 2002: the Appeals Chamber affirms every conviction and sentence.
Questions beyond these judgments
- How many additional perpetrators escaped prosecution?
- What long-term support was available to survivors and their families?
- How have domestic courts incorporated the ICTY’s legal findings?
- Which related Foča cases still require separate documentation?
Frequently asked questions
Who was convicted?
Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač and Zoran Vuković.
What sentences were imposed?
Twenty-eight, twenty and twelve years respectively.
Were the appeals successful?
No. The Appeals Chamber rejected every ground and affirmed the convictions and sentences.
Does this file cover every Foča crime?
No. It is limited to the charged conduct and final judgments concerning these three defendants.