Higher Court in Belgrade confirms indictment for war crimes in Štrpci

The Higher Court in Belgrade announced today that the war crimes panel of the court has confirmed the indictment against five individuals accused of committing war crimes in Štrpci 24 years ago, when 20 civilians of non-Serb nationality who were traveling by train on the Belgrade-Bar route were killed, Insajder reports, as conveyed by the Patria agency.

The statement indicates that the Criminal Pre-Trial Panel of the War Crimes Department issued a decision on August 21, 2017, confirming the indictment filed by the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office against Gojko Lukić, Ljubiša Vasiljević, Duško Vasiljević, Jovan Lipovac, and Dragana Đekić.

It is added that the panel, by examining the Prosecutor's indictment and considering the remarks from the decision of the Appellate Court in Belgrade, concluded that the set of facts stated in the indictment and arising from the evidence collected during the pre-trial and investigative proceedings directly support the justified suspicion that the accused committed the criminal offense they are charged with, in the manner described in the indictment.

Against the decision, the accused and their defense attorneys can appeal to the Appellate Court in Belgrade within three days of receiving the decision.

The accused are charged with committing war crimes against the civilian population as co-perpetrators in the villages of Štrpci, Prelovo, and Mušići (BiH) on February 27, 1993.

The War Crimes Prosecutor's Office of Serbia filed an indictment against these five individuals back in March 2015, but the court had returned it to the Prosecutor's Office for supplementation several times.

Proceedings are underway before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against another 10 individuals for the same criminal offense.

These ten individuals, against whom proceedings are being conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the five against whom the indictment has now been confirmed, were arrested on December 5, 2014, in a coordinated operation by the judicial and police authorities of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On February 27, 1993, members of the Army of Republika Srpska abducted and killed 20 passengers, civilians of non-Serb nationality, from the train on the Belgrade-Bar line at the Štrpci railway station, near Rudo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The oldest victim was 59, and the youngest was not yet 17 years old.

For the crime in Štrpci, only Nebojša Ranisavljević has been finally convicted by the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje, Montenegro, and so far, the remains of only four victims have been found.

The victims of this crime were Esad Kapetanović, Ilijaz Ličin, Fehim Bakija, Šećo Softić, Rifat Husović, Halil Zupčević, Senad Dječević, Jusuf Rastoder, Ismet Babačić, Toma Buzov, Adem Alomerović, Muhedin Hanić, Safet Preljević, Džafer Topuzović, Rasim Ćorić, Fikret Memović, Fevzija Zeković, Nijazim Kajević, Zvjezdan Zuličić, and one unidentified person.