Female Bosnian Serb Fighters Indicted for War Crimes

The cantonal court in Bihac in north-west Bosnia on Thursday confirmed the indictment against Kuburic and Banjac for allegedly physically and mentally abusing the detained nurse, who was a member of the Bosnian Army’s Una-Sana operational unit, in the summer of 1992.

“The accused handed over a detained person with the initials K.K. to members of the [Bosnian Serb] Front žena [Women’s Front military unit] from Petrovac, among whom was the commander of this unit, Ranka Tomic, who is currently unavailable to the state authorities,” the indictment said.

“Then they took K. K. to the valley near the school in Radic where many locals were gathered, and Ranka Tomic ordered her to strip naked and crawl on the ground, causing her multiple cuts to her body,” it said.

According to the indictment, the wounded nurse was forced to dig her own grave while she was sexually abused with branches which were placed between her legs.

“At one point Kuburic and Banjac approached and hit the victim with sticks from a hazel tree until they broke and then Banjac cut off her hair with a knife and made a cross on her head, and later made a cross with a knife on her back, which caused serious bleeding,” it said.

“Continuing the torture, Kuburic took a knife and cut the lower part of the victim’s ear,” it added.

According to the indictment, Tomic then took the victim to a nearby valley, where a man called Veselko Djukic dug another grave, forced the victim to lie down in it and shot her dead.

Kuburic and Banjac will enter their pleas in the next two weeks.