Local Justice: Indictees in Croatia Not Available to Bosnian Judicial Bodies
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In February 2011, the District Court in Doboj confirmed indictments against Miroslav Kopljar, Marko Milos, Nijaz Causevic and Dalibor Slabic for crimes committed against civilians in Odzak, Bosanski brod, and Slavonski Brod in Croatia.
The District Prosecution told BIRN–Justice Report that the four indictees were not available to judicial authorities.
“The indictees live at known addresses in Slavonski Brod and they are currently not available to local judicial bodies,” Slobodanka Lukic, spokesperson of the Doboj District Prosecution, told BIRN-Justice Report.
Any arrest of the four indictees would have to be carried out by police in Croatia, where they live.
The indictment against Miroslav Kopljar, former member of military police with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO from Bosanski Brod, alleges that he participated, from April to October 1992, in arrests, and the search and confiscation of property, as well as physical and mental abuse of Serb and Bosniak civilians.
The Prosecution alleges that in 1992 Kopljar, known as Balo, was a guard in a detention camp in an old Internal Affairs Secretariat, SUP, building in Bosanski Brod and the HVO military police detention camp formed at the Polet football club stadium in that town.
The indictment alleges that Marko Milos, former member of the Military Police Unit with the 108th Slavonski Brod Brigade of the Croatian Army, participated in the physical and mental abuse of civilians from May to September 1992.
Milos allegedly beat and abused detainees in various buildings in Odzak and Bosanski Brod, as well as Slavonski Brod in Croatia, during the course of 1992.
The Doboj District Prosecution also filed an indictment against Nijaz Causevic, former member of the Interventions Company with the 101st Brigade of HVO, for crimes committed in Bosanski Brod.
Causevic is charged with having participated, from March to the end of July 1992, in the unlawful search of houses, confiscation of other people’s property, unlawful arrests, murder and detention of Serb civilians in Sijekovac and Kolibe Donje villages, Bosanski Brod.
The Doboj District Court also confirmed an indictment against Dalibor Sladic, known as Taibov or Kerber, former member of the Military Police Unit with the 101th HVO Brigade from Bosanski Brod.
Slabic is charged with having participated, from April to October 1992, in the search of houses and the detention, torture and abuse of civilians. The Prosecution charges him with having raped women who were held in various detention facilities.
Civilians from the Bosanski Brod area were detained in the old police building, at the Polet stadium and in the Fric Pavlik school building.
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This article is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID.) The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Balkan investigative reporting network (BIRN) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
