Nearly a year after the European Court of Human Rights’ decision that ruled his sentence unjust, Abdulahim Maktouf will face a new trial later this week. Maktouf, an Iraqi national, fought alongside Bosniak forces in the 1990s. He was convicted by the Court of BiH in 2006. In its landmark Maktouf and Damjanovic v Bosnia and Herzegovina decision, the ECHR ruled that the Court improperly applied the 2003 BiH Criminal Code, which was not in force at the time Maktouf’s crimes were committed. Under the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Maktouf would have faced a shorter sentence.
Despite the European Court’s ruling, the Court and Prosecutor of BiH continue to charge defendants with war crimes under the BiH Criminal Code. Mr. Maktouf, who was deported after serving a five-year sentence in BiH, now lives in Malaysia.
