Indictment Confirmed Against Six Former Bosnian Serb Military Officials for Kotor-Varos Crimes

Bosko Peulic, Slobodan Zupljanin, Aleksandar Petrovic, Manojlo Tepic, Janko Trivic and Nedeljko Djekanovic have been charged with participating in a widespread and systematic attack with the aim of permanently deporting the Bosniak and Croat population from the municipality of Kotor-Varos.

According to the indictment, Peulic was the commander of the Third Tactical Group of the Bosnian Serb Army, Trivic was the commander of the 22nd Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, Zupljanin was the commander of the Second Battalion of the 22nd Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army and Aleksandar Petrovic was the commander of the First Company of the Second Battalion of the Bosnian Serb Army. Tepic was the commander of the Territorial Defense in Kotor-Varos and Djekanovic was the president of Kotor-Varos and the president of the municipality’s crisis committee.

The state prosecution alleges that in their capacity as senior military officials, the defendants persecuted approximately 20,000 Bosniak and Croat civilians from Kotor-Varos, including women and children. The persecution was conducted as part of a joint criminal enterprise based on ethnic and religious grounds, which included acts of murder, deportation and forcible resettlement.

The state prosecution filed the indictment on December 1, 2015.