Bosnian Croat Fighter Charged With Rape, Murder

The Bosnian state court on Thursday confirmed the charges against Sakoc, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council’s military police accused of committing war crimes against Serbs in the Pocitelj and Capljina areas in 1992.

“Specifically, he is charged with the rape and sexual abuse of one Serb woman in the Pocitelj area using force, and participating in the murder of two Serb victims in Capljina with individuals known to him,” the prosecution said.

Sakoc was arrested in the United States in 2013 because he gave false information about his role in the Bosnian war to the US authorities.

Also on Thursday, the trial of eight men for crimes against Serb civilians in Hadzici continued with the testimony of an expert witness who argued that the arrests of Serbs in the Tarcin and Pazaric area of the Hadzici municipality were justified to ensure security.

Military expert witness Asim Dzambasovic said that arresting people who were suspected of collaborating with the enemy was justified and logical because the survival of the local population was at risk.

Dzambasovic said the decision to detain them was made by the wartime presidency of Hadzici on May 14, 1992.

He said that 361 of those arrested were found to have illegal weapons and military equipment.

“The activities undertaken by the Territorial Defence, municipal headquarters and wartime presidency were justified at the time bearing in mind the complete situation,” he said.

The suspects were arrested by officers from the Public Security Station then detained in temporary prisons, he added.

Dzambasovic was testifying in defence of Fadil Covic, the former chief of the Public Security Station and a member of the Crisis Committee in the Hadzici municipality.

Fadil Covic is on trial along with seven other men, Mustafa Djelilovic, Mirsad Sabic, Nezir Kazic, Becir Hujic, Halid Covic, Serif Mesanovic and Nermin Kalember.

According to the charges, Djelilovic was the president of the municipal assembly, Crisis Committee and wartime presidency of Hadzici municipality, Sabic was the commander of the police station in Pazaric, Kazic was the commander of the Ninth Mountain Brigade of the Bosnian Army.

Hujic was the manager and deputy manager of the Silos detention camp, as was Halid Covic, while Mesanovic was one of the deputy managers of Silos and manager of a detention camp in the warehouse of Krupa military barracks, while Kalember was a guard at Silos, the charges say.

They are accused of the unlawful detention and inhumane treatment of prisoners at the Silos camp, the Krupa military barracks and the Ninth of May school building, and causing them physical and mental suffering.

The trial will continue on May 12.