Indictment confirmed in the case of Vidoje Blagojević and others for crimes against humanity

(Patria) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the indictment in the case of Vidoje Blagojević and others, which together with Ivan Arapović, Milan Arapović, Kosta Pejić, Božo Radić, Mile Savić, Mile Blagojević, Ljubiša Pejić, Stevo Vasiljević, Branko Pejić and Verica Radović, accuses them of committing the criminal offense of crimes against humanity.

The indictment, among other things, accuses the defendants of, from May 31, 1992, to June 25, 1992, in the area of the municipality of Zvornik, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and during the armed conflict between the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) in the municipality of Zvornik, and during a widespread and systematic attack by military, paramilitary, and police forces of the so-called Serbian Republic of BiH, and later Republika Srpska, directed against the civilian Muslim population of the municipality of Zvornik, which attack lasted from April 8, 1992, until at least the end of August 1992, knowing about the armed conflict, as well as the widespread and systematic attack, and that their actions were part of that attack, participated in the unlawful detention and inhumane treatment of approximately 700 Muslim civilians, detained in the Technical School Center (TSC) in Karakaj, and the murder and forced disappearance of at least 150 Muslim civilians.

It is further stated that the accused Ivan Arapović, Milan Arapović, Kosta Pejić, Bozo Radić, Mile Savić, Mile Blagojević, Ljubiša Pejić, Stevo Vasiljević, Branko Pejić, as members of the Karakaj Company in their capacity as guards in the aforementioned facility, in contravention of the Law on the Army of Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina, failed to protect the lives and health of approximately 700 detained Muslim civilians in the TSC Karakaj because, although they were guards in the TSC Karakaj, they did not prevent Serbian soldiers P. S. (deceased), M. S. (unavailable), T. M. (deceased) who was a member of the Military Police, as well as other Serbian soldiers who were members of the TO Zvornik until June 2, 1992, and from June 2, 1992, were members of the Zvornik Brigade of the VRS, from freely entering the part of the TSC where these Muslim civilians were detained daily, after which the aforementioned and other unidentified Serbian soldiers beat the detained Muslim civilians, took out the detained Muslim civilians, from whom most were lost without a trace, and killed the detained Muslim civilians.

It is further stated that the accused, with the intention of causing great suffering, serious physical and psychological harm, committed and assisted in the detention or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, and assisted in inhumane acts of a similar nature committed with the intention of causing great suffering or serious physical or psychological harm or damage to health, forced disappearance and murder of civilians of Muslim nationality.

The accused Vidoje Blagojević is accused of, as a superior to the members of the Karakaj Company of the Zvornik Brigade, failing to take necessary and reasonable measures to initiate proceedings for the punishment of the said members of the Karakaj Company and other members of the Zvornik Brigade for their assistance and participation in inhumane acts of a similar nature committed with the intention of causing great suffering or serious physical or psychological harm or damage to health, forced disappearance and murder of approximately 700 civilians of Muslim nationality.

Furthermore, the accused Verica Radović is accused of, on June 1, 1992, in front of the premises of the TSC in Karakaj – municipality of Zvornik, acting contrary to the rules of international humanitarian law by coming in front of the premises of the TSC, after which the guards brought out two detained Muslim civilians from the premises of the TSC, whereupon one of the guards handed her a cocked pistol, which Verica Radović, consciously and voluntarily, fired and killed two prisoners at close range, the Court of BiH announced.