Dragomir Vasić, Danilo Zoljić and Radomir Pantić Indicted for Genocide in Srebrenica

The Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has filed an indictment for genocide in Srebrenica against: Dragomir Vasić, also known as Vaske, born on 30 October 1960 in Tuzla, Danilo Zoljić, also known as Dačo, born on 29 August 1958 in Kalesija, and Radomir Pantić, born on 6 January 1964 in Vlasenica, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.

The accused are charged with, as high-ranking officials of the RS police structures, specifically the accused Vasić as commander of the Zvornik Police Forces Staff and chief of the Zvornik Public Security Centre, the accused Zoljić as commander of the Special Police Units of the Zvornik Public Security Centre, and the accused Pantić as commander of the 1st Company of the Special Police Unit of the Zvornik Public Security Centre, participating in a joint criminal enterprise.

The accused Zoljić and Pantić aided and abetted the commission of genocide, within which the forced displacement of approximately 40,000 persons, mostly women, children and the elderly of Bosniak ethnicity, as well as the executions and mass killings of approximately 8,000 Bosniak men and boys from the area of the Srebrenica Safe Zone, were carried out, thereby committing the criminal offence of genocide under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The accused are charged with participating in the planning and execution of the genocide committed in Srebrenica, by ensuring and ordering the use of personnel and equipment of police forces for the capture and forced separation of Bosniak men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, as well as the detention and holding of prisoners, their transport to execution sites, and the execution of several thousand victims of Bosniak ethnicity at the locations of Kozluk, Branjevo, Pilica and other places.

Furthermore, they are also charged with covering up the victims' bodies in mass graves, as well as later exhuming the bodies and moving them to secondary mass graves in order to conceal the commission of criminal offences.

The accused Vasić is charged with committing, and the accused Zoljić and Pantić with aiding and abetting, the partial extermination of the group of Bosniaks of the Srebrenica enclave as a national, religious and ethnic group, thereby committing the criminal offence of genocide under Article 171, points a) and b) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This indictment is one of the most extensive in the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the Srebrenica genocide, and along with the indictment, the Prosecutor's Office has proposed the examination of 137 witnesses, including more than 20 protected witnesses, whose testimonies will prove the guilt of the accused, and several hundred pieces of material evidence have been attached to the indictment.

As part of the thorough investigation in this case, significant cooperation was achieved with the Hague Prosecutor's Office, the statement from the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina says.

The indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.