Freed Hague Tribunal Convict Arrested for War Crimes

Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency officers arrested Mrdja on Monday along with fellow ex-policemen Radenko Marinovic and Milan Gavrilovic on suspicion that they took part in war crimes against civilians in 1992.

They are suspected of taking part in the killings, torture and abuse of Bosniak and Croat civilians while they were being transported to the Omarska and Manjaca detention camps in August 1992.

Mrdja was released from prison in Spain in 2013 after serving two-thirds of his 17-year Hague Tribunal sentence for taking part in the massacre of more than 150 Bosniaks on Koricanske Stijene on Mount Vlasic.

Former Bosnian Serb policeman Zoran Babic is also suspected of taking part in the Prijedor crimes.

Babic is currently serving a 22-year sentence for taking part in the Koricanske Stijene killings in 1992.

He will be handed over from the prison to the Bosnian prosecution for questioning.

The prosecution also suspects Mrdja of killing three Bosniaks in the village of Sredice near Prijedor in July 1992, and of abducting civilians from the Tukovi neighbourhood of Prijedor who were never seen alive again.

“The suspects are under investigation for the killings of ten people and the torture, abuse and beating of four illegally detained civilians in total,” said the prosecution.

Mrdja, Marinkovic, Gavrilovic and Babic were all members of the Prijedor police intervention squad.

All four suspects will be questioned and the prosecution will decide whether to file custody motions.