Bosnian Serb Ex-Officers Face Crimes Against Humanity Trial
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Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Photo: BIRN BiH
The Bosnian state court on Thursday confirmed an indictment charging Radomir Nedic and Ratko Djurkovic with committing crimes against humanity in the Ugljevik area in 1992.
The court had initially refused to confirm the charges last month, but then the prosecution filed a new indictment with new evidence and a revised description of the alleged facts of the case.
The confirmed indictment charges Nedic and Djurkovic with having “participated in the persecution of the Bosniak civilian population on ethnic and religious grounds” in the period from April to late October 1992.
It claims that Nedic and Djurkovic committed the crimes as part of a widespread and systematic attack by Bosnian Serb military, police and paramilitary forces on the civilian population of the Ugljevik municipality.
Crimes committed during the attack included murders, forcible resettlement, and arbitrary and militarily unjustified destruction of property, the indictment said.
Nedic is charged as the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s First Majevica Brigade, and Ratko Djurkovic as the commander of the First Battalion of the First Majevica Brigade.
The indictment claims that as superior officers, they both failed to undertake necessary and reasonable measures to punish the immediate perpetrators of the crimes.
