Bosnia Charges Serb Commander with Rogatica Crimes

Rajko Kusic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Rogatica Brigade, was charged with involvement in more than 150 killings as well as forced relocations and unlawful detentions.

The Bosnian prosecution on Wednesday charged Kusic with committing the crimes as a part of widespread and systematic attack on Bosniak civilians in the Rogatica area from May 1992 to July 1995.

Kusic is now believed to be in Serbia and an international arrest warrant has been ordered, the prosecution said. But because he has Serbian citizenship, his extradition to Bosnia is unlikely as the neighbour states do not have an extradition agreement.

“Kusic is accused of commanding and participating in attacks on the civilian population in which victims were murdered, forcibly relocated, unlawfully detained at detention facilities where they were beaten, mistreated, taken to work or to unknown places after which they have since been listed as missing,” the prosecution said.

During the attacks, the prosecution alleged, a large number of imprisoned women and girls were raped and sexually abused.

“The defendant is charged with coordinating the activities of the military and police forces in the Rogatica municipality, from where almost the entire non-Serb population of the municipality – several thousand Bosniaks – were forcibly resettled outside the territory of Republika Srpska,” the prosecution said.

Kusic is also charged with the murders of more than 100 people from the Rogatica area, as well as murders of 50 people at the Paklenik pit near the town of Sokolac.

According to the indictment, Kusic was the Territorial Defence commander in Rogatica and later commander of the Rogatica Brigade, and at the same time was a member of the Serb crisis staff of the Rogatica municipality.

The indictment has been forwarded to the state court for confirmation.