They Killed 11 Children Too: SIPA Arrested Five Suspects for Crimes Against Bosniaks in Zaklopača

Acting on the order of a prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, several teams of the SIPA Special Unit, in the area of Vlasenica, Milići and surrounding areas, located and arrested five suspects for war crimes, reports the Patria News Agency.

The arrested individuals are Branko Jolović, born in 1957 in Milići, Milomir Milošević, born in 1961 in Vlasenica, Nenad Vukotić, born in 1963 in Milići, Nikola Lošić, born in 1965 in Milići, and Dejan Milanović, born in 1946 in Milići.

 

A sixth suspect, Radomir Pantić, was arrested after a hearing at the Court of BiH, where he is being tried for another war crime offense.

The aforementioned suspects are under investigation and are suspected of having committed war crimes against victims of Bosniak nationality in the area of Zaklopača village, Milići municipality, in the spring of 1992, in their capacity as members of the police and military structures of the VRS.

The crime was committed on May 16, 1992, when during an organized military and police attack on the village of Zaklopača, more than 60 Bosniak civilians, including women, children, and the elderly (11 children were killed in the attack), were killed in their homes, yards, and surrounding facilities. They were left dead at the sites of their killings, and the bodies were removed and buried in mass graves the following day.

The largest number of remains were discovered in a mass grave in 2004, and to date, the remains of 54 individuals have been discovered and exhumed, while the search for other victims is still ongoing.

The Prosecutor's Office of BiH, together with partner police and security agencies, conducted a long and thorough investigation to shed light on this crime, during which evidence was collected that the aforementioned suspects participated in the commission of this crime.

The aforementioned suspects are under investigation for the criminal offense of crimes against humanity. The suspects will be handed over to the acting prosecutor, who will question them and then decide on further actions, according to the statement from the Prosecutor's Office of BiH.