First-instance verdict to be delivered tomorrow in the case of Borislav Paravac and others

(Patria) - The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will deliver the first-instance verdict in the case of Borislav Paravac and others on Tuesday, August 6, at 9:00 AM in courtroom 4. Accused Borislav Paravac, Andrija Bjelošević and Milan Savić are charged with committing the criminal offense of crimes against humanity, the BiH Court announced.

The indictment states that, from at least May 3, 1992, to the end of 1993, as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian Bosniak and Croat population in the municipalities of Doboj and Teslić, accused Borislav Paravac, in his capacity as president of the Crisis Staff of the Serb Municipality of Doboj, accused Andrija Bjelošević, in his capacity as head of the Public Security Center Doboj of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska and simultaneously a member of the Crisis Staff of the Serb Municipality of Doboj, as participants in a joint criminal enterprise, carried out the persecution of the Bosniak and Croat population of the municipalities of Doboj and Teslić.

They did this through killings, forced displacement of the population, detention or other severe deprivation of physical liberty contrary to the basic rules of international law, torture, enforced disappearances, attacks on the civilian population and settlements resulting in death, serious bodily injury or serious impairment of health, forcing into forced labor, looting of the population's property, and destruction of cultural, religious, and historical monuments and institutions intended for religious purposes.

It is further stated that the accused Milan Savić, in his capacity as de jure assistant head, and de facto as deputy head of the Public Security Center Doboj, knowing about such an attack and that his actions were part of that attack with a discriminatory intent, carried out the persecution of the civilian Bosniak and Croat population of the Municipality of Teslić through killings, detention and other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, and other inhumane acts committed with the intent of causing great suffering or serious bodily or psychological injury.