Crimes in the Bihać Area: Indictment Filed Against Saša Ćurguz

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has filed an indictment against Saša Ćurguz for crimes committed against the Bosniak population in the Bihać area in the summer of 1992.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Ćurguz, as a member of the Reconnaissance Platoon of the 15th Bihać Brigade of the Army of the Serbian Republic, with participating in the persecution of the Bosniak population through torture and murder.

- He, along with members of the Military Police and the Reconnaissance Platoon, came to the premises of the tractor service in Ripač, where several dozen Bosniaks were detained. They took a group of 11 prisoners by truck to the Hrgar site near a natural pit called Bezdana, after which the civilians were killed with firearms, and their bodies thrown into the pit - stated the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ćurguz is charged with participating in these murders, shooting the victims in the head with a firearm, after which he pushed them into the pit. He is also accused of participating in the torture, abuse, and beating of prisoners.

- From the mass grave - the Bezdana pit, in 1997, the remains of 83 people were exhumed, of which 65 bodies of victims have been identified - the statement from the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina reads.

Ćurguz, who is charged with crimes against humanity, was extradited from Serbia on February 8. The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that significant cooperation was achieved in this case with the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office and the judiciary of Serbia.

The indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For the murder of 11 detainees from Ripač, a trial is ongoing before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Željko Stanarević, a former military policeman of the 15th Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS, writes BIRN, reports Patria.