Indictment against VRS General Živanović for war crime in Srebrenica

(Patria) - The Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes has filed an indictment against Milenko Živanović, born in 1946 in Ratkovići, Srebrenica.

The accused is charged that as a general and commander of the Drina Corps of the VRS, in 1995, as a participant in a joint criminal enterprise, he planned and directed the activities of Drina Corps units in a widespread and systematic attack directed against the Bosniak civilian population in the areas of Srebrenica and Žepa.

The indictment states that the accused, starting from March 1995 until mid-July of that year, on several occasions, blocked the protected zone of Srebrenica, prevented supplies, and ordered artillery attacks on the civilian population and targets in the Srebrenica area, in order to create unbearable living conditions and force the civilian population to leave their homes and property.

Furthermore, the accused is charged with artillery and infantry attacks on the population, which resulted in the deaths of several persons, as well as attacks on the population during their departure from Srebrenica and an attack on UN positions with the aim of disabling them from protecting civilians. Moreover, the accused is charged with mobilizing all available vehicles and necessary fuel with the aim of forcibly displacing the civilian population from the Srebrenica area, as well as transporting captured men and boys who were forcibly separated for the purpose of capture and killing.

The accused is also charged that military and police units under his command participated in the capture of several thousand men and boys from the Srebrenica area on the Bratunac-Milići road, as well as their unlawful detention and transport.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina will prove the allegations of the indictment by calling a number of witnesses and presenting a number of material evidence, including documentation obtained through cooperation with the Prosecutor's Office and the ICTY Court in The Hague.