Amir Kubura

Early life

Amir Kubura was born in the town of Kakanj in SR of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the SFR Yugoslavia on 4 March 1964. Kubura started his military career as an Officer with the Yugoslav People's Army where he served for five years, reaching the rank of Captain before leaving in 1992 in order to join the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. he was then assigned Acting Commander of the 7th Muslim Mountain Brigade on 1 April 1993, From January 1993 to January 1994 in Central Bosnia the Bosnian Army and the Mujahideen engaged in heavy assaults on the Bosnian Croat forces called the Croatian Defence Council, the fighting intensified in the municipalities Kakanj, Travnik and Zenica. During Kubura's trial the Prosecution claimed that from 3–4 November 1993 in Vareš the 7th Muslim Brigade "shattered the shop windows and broke down the doors of all the shops in town in order to get to the booty". Ralf Wekesser a former monitor for the European Community Monitoring Mission testified to the ICTY in Kubura's trial that on the 8 November 1993 that the "streets were full of people trying to loot and the roads leading from Vares were full of soldiers and civilians loaded with the things they had looted", however Kubura stated that he had ordered his 7th Muslim Mountain Brigade to leave Vareš on 5 November 1993. Kubura pleaded not guilty to all charges against him the same day. however the Prosecution's appeal was dismissed by the appeals chamber. Kubura was granted early release on 11 April 2006 due to the 828 days he spent in pre-trial detention. On 22 April 2008 the Appeals Chamber Judges found that Kubura took the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent certain acts of plunder committed by those under his command in Vareš in November 1993 and reversed the Trial Chamber's charges for this conviction, his sentence was reduced from two and a half years imprisonment to two years imprisonment by the Appeals Chamber; however Kubura had already served his sentence.