Six Indicted for Murder of 300 Civilians and Persecution of 20,000 Bosniaks and Croats from Kotor Varoš

A prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has filed an indictment in a Category 2 case related to war crimes against victims of Bosniak and Croat ethnicity in the area of Kotor Varoš, which includes the persecution and murder of several hundred people in that area, reports the Patria news agency.

The prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH filed an indictment against:

1. BOŠKO PEULIĆ, born on January 14, 1947, in Donji Vijčani, Prnjavor,

2. SLOBODAN ŽUPLJANIN, nicknamed "Bebac", born on November 17, 1957, in Maslovare, Kotor Varoš,

3. ALEKSANDAR PETROVIĆ, nicknamed "Saša", born on December 28, 1970, in Kotor Varoš,

4. MANOJLO TEPIĆ, nicknamed "Mane", born on May 16, 1960, in Postolje, Kotor Varoš,

5. JANKO TRIVIĆ, born on June 4, 1949, in the village of Jošavka, Čelinac, and

6. NEDELJKO ĐEKANOVIĆ, born on November 15, 1958, in Grabovica, Kotor Varoš.

The accused are charged with, from the beginning of June 1992 to mid-1994, within the framework of a widespread and systematic attack by the VRS and the forces of the MUP RS, directed against the civilian population of the Kotor Varoš municipality, in their capacities as Boško Peulić, commander of Tactical Group 3 of the VRS; Slobodan Župljanin, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the VRS; Aleksandar Petrović, commander of the 1st Company of the 2nd Battalion of the VRS; Manojlo Tepić, commander of the TO Kotor Varoš and simultaneously commander of the Defense of the City of Kotor Varoš, and later as chief of the Light Kotor Varoš Brigade of the VRS, and a member of the Crisis Staff, and later the War Presidency; Janko Trivić, commander of the VRS; and Nedeljko Đekanović, president of the Kotor Varoš municipality and president of the Crisis Staff, committed the criminal offense of crimes against humanity under Article 172 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

According to the indictment, the accused coordinated, directed, and supervised the operations of military and police forces with the common goal of persecuting the Bosniak and Croat population from the area of the Kotor Varoš municipality.

They are accused of, as high-ranking military officials, as participants in a joint criminal enterprise, on national and religious grounds, carrying out persecution through murder, deportation, and forced displacement of the population, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, and committing the persecution of approximately 20,000 persons of Bosniak and Croat ethnicity from Kotor Varoš, among whom were children and women.

Through the aforementioned persecution and crimes against humanity, almost the entire population of Bosniak and Croat ethnicity was expelled from the area of this town and its surroundings, and still lives in displacement throughout BiH and the world, with only a small number of returnees having returned to their pre-war homes.

After the persecution, victims were unlawfully deprived of their liberty and taken to various locations and places of detention where they were tortured and abused in various ways, and on several occasions, by separating them into groups, mass executions of captured civilians were carried out, and about 300 victims were killed.

During the widespread and systematic attack on civilians, murders, torture, rape, enforced disappearances of persons, as well as other inhumane acts of a similar nature were committed with the intent to cause great suffering or serious physical or mental injury or impairment of health.

As part of the committed crimes, forced labor was imposed, property of the population was looted, and cultural, religious, and historical monuments and institutions intended for religious purposes were destroyed.

This case is a Category 2 case in which the Prosecutor's Office of the Hague Tribunal began an investigation, and the case was subsequently forwarded for prosecution to the judiciary of BiH.

The Prosecutor's Office will prove the guilt of the accused by calling 231 witnesses and expert witnesses, and the indictment, along with the attached extensive evidentiary material, will be forwarded for confirmation to the Court of BiH.

Also, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH continues intensive investigative activities against a number of suspects, individual and direct perpetrators of crimes, murders, torture, abuse, and looting of the civilian population in the area of Kotor Varoš, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH announced.