Indictment Filed Against Sasa Curguz

The state prosecution has charged Curguz, a former member of the Reconnaissance Squad with the 15th Bihacka Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, with participating in the persecution of the Bosniak population in Bihac by committing acts of torture and murder.

“He came, accompanied by members of military police and the Reconnaissance Squad, to a tractor repair workshop complex in Ripac, where several dozen Bosniaks were detained. They took a group of 11 detainees by truck to Hrgar in the vicinity of a natural pit known as Bezdana. After that the civilians were killed with firearms and their bodies were thrown into the pit,” the state prosecution announced.

Curguz has been charged with participating in the murders by shooting the victims in the head with firearms. He then allegedly pushed them into the pit. He has also been charged with participating in the torture, abuse and assault of detainees.

“In 1997, the remains of 83 persons were exhumed from a mass grave in Bezdana pit. 65 of them have been identified,” a state prosecution announcement reads.

Curguz has been charged with crimes against humanity and was extradited from Serbia on February 8. The state prosecution stated that significant collaboration with the Prosecution for War Crimes and judicial bodies in Serbia had been established in this case.

The indictment has been filed with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The trial of Zeljko Stanarevic, a former military policeman of the 15th Light Infantry Brigade with the Bosnian Serb Army is currently underway before the Bosnian state court. Stanarevic has been charged with the murder of 11 detainees from Ripac.