Indictment for Dretelj Crimes Confirmed

Banovic, Alagic and Granic are charged with having committed war crimes against Bosniak civilians and prisoners of war, who were held in Dretelj detention camp, near Capljina, during 1993.
The indictment filed by the Cantonal Prosecution of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton charges them with having beaten and mistreated detainees in Dretelj in the period from July to September 1993. According to the charges, Banovic beat several detainees with a rifle butt, wooden stick, fists and legs and forced them to beat each other. It is further alleged that Banovic forced detainees to lie naked on hot concrete.
“He forced them to lie naked on hot concrete for as long as possible in order to get burns. At the same time they had to look into the sun while lying down. He forced them to jump on each other’s stomachs and beat each other. The injured parties suffered severely due to that,” the indictment alleges. The indictment further says that indictee Alagic beat two detainees up. He used to take one of them from an isolation cell, where he was held, and forced him to lie naked on hot armature, beating him at the same time.
It is alleged that Granic, who was accompanied by other members of the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, used to beat detainees in Dretelj. According to the indictment, Banovic and Granic were members of HVO military police, while Alagic, also known as Lav, was a policeman at that time.