SALON

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2013 7:45 PM UTC

Bosnian convicted of abusing his stepdaughter

By

Topics: From the Wires,

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A Bosnian man was convicted on Tuesday of illegally imprisoning his German stepdaughter in his house for six years.

Milenko Marinkovic, 52, was arrested last May in his village of Karavlasi in northeast Bosnia and accused of mistreating 19-year-old Bettina Siegner by holding her captive in his remote home, starving her, preventing her from going to school or meeting other people, and physically and mentally torturing her.

Villagers who discovered what was happening said Marinkovic had forced the girl to sleep and eat with pigs, and whipped her while she pulled a horse cart. Details of the case riveted the nation of Bosnia when they first emerged.

When police finally found the victim, she was disoriented and had clearly visible injuries.

Marinkovic, who confessed after Siegner testified against him during his trial, was convicted by a court in the nearby town of Kalesija on Tuesday and sentenced to two years in prison. That prompted prosecutor Admir Arnautovic to say he will appeal the sentence as too short, given the gravity of the crime.

Marinkovic’s partner, Slavojka Marinkovic, also was arrested in May for allegedly taking part in the illegal imprisoning of Seigner, but she has pleaded innocent and will be tried later.

One odd development in the case remains unresolved.

Siegner is the daughter of Marinkovic’s legitimate wife, Kristina Siegner, a 54-year-old German woman who still lives in Karavlasi village and has denied the accusations against both defendants. She also has insisted that her daughter is mentally disabled.

Kristina Siegner has been ordered to remain in Bosnia in case her testimony is needed in the two cases, but she did not appear during the first trial.

More By Aida Cerkez.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid “totally different” from Sandy aid
3051 points3052 points | 1985 comments
vote
Anyone Regret Slashing National Weather Service Budget Now?: With GOP-backed cuts to forecasting agency, experts warn future storms will go undetected and more lives lost
953 points954 points | 494 comments
vote
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
148 points149 points | 52 comments
vote
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook " In Chicago this weekend, prosecutors announced three teenaged boys will tried as adults for aggravated criminal sexual assault after allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl — and posting a video of the attack on Facebook."
27 points28 points | 15 comments
vote
New campaign compares gun control to anti-LGBT discrimination
25 points26 points | 10 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations