Bloody Azra sentenced to 14 years in prison: She tortured and butchered Serbs, she tore away their genitals and ears, she cut in crosses and letter "S"

The Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) confirmed the first-instance verdict of December last year, which sentenced former Croatian Army member Azra Basic to 14 years in prison for crimes committed against captured Serb civilians in detention camps in the Home of Yugoslav National Army (YNA) in Derventa and nearby Polje in 1992.

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Numerous crimes and "murders, tortures and inhuman behaviour, inflicting serious sufferings and injury of bodily integrity and health" were proven and added to the sentence of former member of the 305th Reka Brigade of the Croatian Army and later the "fighters" of the 103rd Brigade of the HVO, widely known as the Bloody Azra.

The list of crimes is long, and one of the most morbid ones is certainly the harassment and manslaughter of Blagoje Djuras in the former YNA home in Derventa.

- We can't say that the sentence of 14 years is that big, but, however, it is big considering the sentences so far given for crimes over Serbs - Slavisa Djuras, the son of the murdered Blagoje said.

Foto: Profimedia/AFP

WHO IS AZRA BASIC? 

She was charged that she participated, as a member of HVO from the April 26th to the beginning of May 1992, in the murder, torture, and infliction of great suffering and injuries to Serbian captives in the Derventa YNA home and in the area of the Polje village.

Immediately after the war, Basic left BiH and emigrated to Kentucky, where she was arrested and prosecuted in March 2011 for immigration fraud, more precisely, for giving inaccurate information to American authorities about her participation in war in BiH.

Given the fact that a request was issued on the basis of a request by the BiH judiciary for Azra Basic, the US authorities have conducted the process of extraditing her to the judiciary of BiH. She was extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina in November 2016, and the trial before the Court began already in December.

Foto: Profimedia/Zuma Press - News

WHY IS SHE CALLED BLOODY AZRA? 

The witnesses described how Basic slaughtered the camp prisoner Blagoje Djuras with one skillful move of a special knife.

- Azra was bothered when severely beaten Blagoje, while lying on the floor in the pool of blood, with white foam coming out of his mouth, started choking. She told him to stop choking, and then, she took her special knife and she thrust it into the left side of his neck. Blood started pouring everywhere. Blagoje didn't have the time to utter a moan and she already had a victory smile, as if she drank a glass of water - the witnesses of the bloody scene said.

It could be heard at the trial how bloody Azra, together with other Croatian and Muslim soldiers, tortured Serbs in various ways.

- They were stripped to the waist, and they were barefoot. They were stomped with boots while they were crawling on the slippery floor. They brought robes which they tied into a knot and they would put it in their mouths, after which the tormentors pulled them and ripped out their teeth - the witnesses said.

They described in detail how Basic tortured the Serbian camp prisoners located in the former YNA home in Derventa.

- Azra used to beat pregnant women, she behaved to the prisoners as if they were dogs. She would cut crosses on prisoners, and then she would pour salt over it - they said.

Foto: Kentucky's U.S. Marshal's Service

FAKE IDENTITY

According to one version, Basic was born on June 22nd, 1959 in Rijeka in Croatia, as Azra Alesevic, and in another version, she was born in Kotarski near Doboj. During the war, she married Nedzad Basic on March 1st, 1994. She used her maiden and married last names, as well as the names Azra Kovacevic and Izabela Basic while hiding her identity.

At one time she lived in Rochester, New York, with her husband. The court documents state that she had lived in the Lexington area until 2006 and that she lived at another address in Stenton.

(Telegraf.co.uk)