Seven people arrested in Sokolac on suspicion of war crimes

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - In a coordinated on-site operation, acting on the order of a prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes, SIPA police officers, in the early morning hours, in the area of the municipality of Sokolac, located, identified, and arrested a total of 7 suspects.

Through international legal mechanisms, the extradition of one of the suspects, who is located in overseas countries, will be requested.

The suspects, who are under investigation, are accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise and are former high-ranking officials of the Sokolac Crisis Headquarters, the army, and the police, as well as direct perpetrators of the murder of civilians of Bosniak nationality from the village of Novoseoci, municipality of Sokolac, in 1992.

This crime was committed on September 21/22, 1992, when VRS members attacked the said village and separated men from women and children. The men were subsequently transported by military trucks to the landfill site at Ivan Polje, where they were brutally killed by gunfire and buried in the landfill, while women and children were expelled and transported to the territory of Sarajevo.

Among the murdered persons were underage boys, as well as one woman who was killed during the attack on the village. The youngest victim was 14 and the oldest was 82 years old. All victims, except for the remains of one murdered civilian, were discovered, exhumed, and identified after the war, and as many as 178 bullet wounds from firearms were found in the remains.

After the crime was committed, the mosque in Novoseoci was mined and demolished, and the remains of the mosque were taken to the landfill and thrown over the bodies of the murdered.

During the day, police and operational activities will be carried out to bring the suspects to the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

This case also includes Radislav Krstić, convicted at the ICTY for genocide in Srebrenica, who was the commander of the 2nd Romanija Motorized Brigade of the VRS in 1992, and who will be questioned in cooperation with the authorities of the IRMCT and Poland, where he is serving his sentence.

The acting prosecutor will question the suspects, after which a decision will be made on further activities in this case. This morning's operation, carried out on the order of the Special Department for War Crimes, relates to the suspects:

1. Tupajić Milan, born in 1954, Knežina, Sokolac, former president of the Sokolac Crisis Headquarters

2. Obradović Radomir, aka "Dragan", born in 1950, Krševi, Sokolac, former commander of the Public Security Station Sokolac

3. Krstić Radislav, born in 1948, Nedeljišta, Vlasenica, former commander of the 2nd Romanija Motorized Brigade of the VRS *currently serving a sentence in Poland

4. K.N., born in 1954, member of the Military Police Company of the 2nd MRB, resides in Canada, extradition will be requested

5. Gašević Miladin, aka "Ćirko", born in 1961, Vidrići, Sokolac, deputy commander of the Reconnaissance Company of the 2nd MRB

6. Kezunović Momir, born in 1957, Vidrići, Sokolac, member of the Reconnaissance Company of the 2nd MRB

7. Kezunović Branislav, aka "Miki", born in 1959, Vidrići, Sokolac, member of the Reconnaissance Company of the 2nd MRB

8. Gašević Željko, born in 1968, Sokolac, member of the Reconnaissance Company of the 2nd MRB

9. Šuka Jadranko, born in 1957, Sokolac, member of the Reconnaissance Company of the 2nd MRB