SIPA arrests three: Darko Mrđa served time in The Hague for crimes at Korićani Cliffs, now Prijedor comes under scrutiny

Officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), acting on the order of a prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, early this morning arrested three suspects charged with war crimes and the murder of multiple victims from the Prijedor area, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.

Acting on the order of a prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in an operation by SIPA police officers, early this morning the following suspects were arrested:

Darko Mrđa, born in 1967 in Zagreb, residing in Prijedor, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Radenko Marinović, born on December 15, 1972, in Sanski Most, residing in Prijedor, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Milan Gavrilović, born on September 9, 1958, in Hašani, residing in Prijedor, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The fourth suspect, Zoran Babić, nicknamed "Bakin", born on June 1, 1968, in Prijedor, is currently serving a prison sentence based on a final verdict for the crime at Korićani Cliffs, and will be brought before the prosecutors from the institution where he is serving his sentence.

The suspects are under investigation and are charged with, during 1992, in the area of Prijedor and its surroundings, as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the Bosniak and Croat population in that area, acting as members of the Intervention Platoon and the police of the Public Security Center (CJB) Prijedor, acting contrary to the provisions of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions on the protection of civilian persons during wartime.

They are charged with, acting jointly and individually, during the month of August 1992 and during the transport of illegally detained civilians of Bosniak and Croat nationality from the Manjača and Omarska camps, in front of the said camps and during the transport, escorting the said transport, and committing murders, torture, abuse, and beatings of detainees, with some suspects personally and directly, using cold and firearms, inflicting injuries and committing murders of victims.

Suspect Mrđa is also under investigation for the murder of three persons of Bosniak nationality in the area of the village of Sredice, in July 1992, as well as for taking one civilian from the village of Tukovi in an unknown direction, after which all trace of him was lost.

The suspects are under investigation for the murder of at least 10 persons, and the torture, abuse, and beating of 4 illegally detained victims. They are suspected of having committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The said suspects will be handed over to the prosecutor in charge during the day, who will question them and then decide on further activities.

Darko Mrđa returned to Prijedor in 2013, after being released from the Hague prison where he served 11 of the 17 years of imprisonment he was sentenced to for crimes at Korićani Cliffs.

In 2004, Mrđa confessed to the Trial Chamber of the Hague Tribunal that he participated in the murder of 150 Bosniak prisoners on Mount Vlašić. More information will be provided soon, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.