Indictment Raised Against 15 Persons for Crimes in Prijedor

The prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes has filed an indictment for crimes against humanity committed against victims of Bosniak ethnicity in the Prijedor area in 1992. It is one of the most extensive indictments for war crimes in Prijedor, relating to the murder of more than 150 victims from the area of the village of Zecovi in 1992, announced the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as reported by the Bosnian news agency Patria.

The accused are charged with, as commanders and soldiers of the VRS, police, and the Crisis Staff, participating in a widespread and systematic attack on the Bosniak population in the village of Zecovi near Prijedor.

The accused are charged with murders, torture, rape, and other tortures, as well as looting and destruction of property of Bosniaks in the village of Zecovi, Prijedor municipality, as criminal acts committed within the framework of the persecution of the Bosniak population from the area of the village of Zecovi.

In this persecution, more than 150 persons of Bosniak ethnicity were killed, including women, children, and the elderly, while the surviving population was captured and illegally detained in the Omarska, Keraterm, and Trnopolje camps, where part of the Bosniak victims were killed, and the remaining victims were subjected to forced expulsion, torture, abuse, and inhumane treatment.

The aforementioned accused are also charged, among other things, with the murder of 29 women and children in the village of Zecovi at the Gradina site, committed on July 25, 1992, after which the bodies of the victims were removed to a mass grave that is still being searched for.

The consequence of this war crime was that no one remained in the village of Zecovi from at least 701 inhabitants of Bosniak ethnicity, as recorded during the 1991 census.

This case relates to one of the greatest sufferings of Bosniak victims in the Prijedor area, and the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted a detailed and extensive investigation to gather evidence for filing an indictment against those responsible.

Part of the remains of the victims were found and identified in the Tomašica mass grave, while the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with competent institutions and police agencies, is intensively searching for the remaining remains.

The scope of this case is also indicated by the fact that within the case, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed summoning about 100 witnesses and expert witnesses, and submitted several thousand pages of evidence material in a total of 556 pieces of evidence, which will be used to prove the guilt of the accused. The accused are charged with committing the criminal act of Crimes against Humanity, under Article 172 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The accused are: Dušan Milunić, nicknamed "Bizon", Radomir Stojnić, nicknamed "Grom", Radovan Četić, nicknamed "Rade", Duško Zorić, Zoran Stojnić, Željko Grbić, Ilija Zorić, Zoran Milunić, Boško Grujičić, nicknamed "Božo", Ljubiša Četić, Rade Grujčić, nicknamed "Gruja", Uroš Grujčić, Rajko Grbić, nicknamed "Paja", Zdravko Antonić, nicknamed "Liko", Rajko Gnjatović, nicknamed "Aćim".

All of the aforementioned are in custody. Along with the indictment, a proposal for extending custody has been submitted. For three other suspects, Jugomir Marčetić, Miodrag Vujičić, nicknamed "Crnogorac", and Slavko Antonić, nicknamed "Lika", who are in hiding and currently unavailable to the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an international warrant will be requested.

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