On the Run: Zlatan Mijo Jelić Charged with Crimes in Mostar

The Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the BiH Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against Zlatan Mijo Jelić, born on 14.12.1970 in Mostar, a citizen of BiH and the Republic of Croatia, it was announced from the BiH Prosecutor's Office, reports the Patria News Agency.

The accused is charged that in the period from May 1993 to March 1994, during the war and armed conflict between the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), as commander of the 1st Active Battalion of the HVO Military Police, and the 1st Special Operations Battalion of the HVO Military Police, and as a commander who had control over all HVO units in the Mostar area, he acted contrary to the provisions of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Civilian Persons.

The indictment states that, as part of a widespread and systematic attack by HVO forces and the HVO Military Police on the Bosniak civilian population in the Mostar area, crimes were committed against victims of Bosniak nationality.

The aforementioned crimes were committed through forced ethnic cleansing, forced expulsion and resettlement of women and children to territory under the control of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, unlawful detention of the Bosniak population in several camps and detention facilities, torture and abuse of victims, forced taking of victims to be used as human shields or for forced labor on the front lines, during which they were exposed to fire and endangered their lives.

Also, crimes were committed by forcing detainees, dressed in HVO uniforms, to throw incendiary objects at facilities under the control of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which exposed them to the danger of being killed, and by torturing and abusing detainees and inflicting severe bodily injuries that resulted in permanent injuries and disabilities for the victims.

The indictment states that the forced labor assignments were carried out with the approval and consent of the accused Jelić, and that as a result of being forced to work on the front lines, at least 50 victims died, 188 were seriously or lightly wounded, while about 40 victims were tortured and physically abused by HVO members.

Furthermore, the accused is charged with approving the taking of detainees from camps for forced labor on the properties of certain HVO officials, as well as forcing detainees to load and transport looted property of the Bosniak and Serb populations in the Mostar area.

The accused Jelić is charged with knowing about and approving the commission of crimes, and that he did nothing to prevent the crimes or punish the perpetrators. Through the committed crimes, a large number of Mostar residents of Bosniak and Serb nationality were expelled and ethnically cleansed.

The indictment against Zlatan-Mijo Jelić, who is charged with the criminal offense of crimes against humanity, is one of the most extensive indictments for crimes committed in the Mostar area.

This is a Category 2 case, in which the investigation was initiated at the ICTY Prosecutor's Office, after which the case was forwarded for processing to the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office will prove the responsibility of the accused by calling more than 200 witnesses, of whom more than 20 will testify with protection measures, and more than 1100 pieces of evidence have been attached to the indictment.

Given that the accused is on the run and in the territory of the Republic of Croatia, an international arrest warrant will be issued, and extradition of the accused or his prosecution in the judicial institutions of Croatia will be requested from the authorities in Croatia, and the ICTY Prosecutor's Office will also be informed of all this, according to the statement from the BiH Prosecutor's Office.