Bosnian Serb Ex-Fighter Charged with Attacking Bosniak Villages

Novakovic, who has citizenship of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and is believed to live in Belgrade, is accused of having participated, alongside others, in the murders, torture and persecution of Bosniak civilians in both villages.

“During the attack on those villages and the expulsion of the population from their houses and homes, Novakovic participated, together with other persons, in the murder of 27 civilians, Bosniak men, who they had previously separated from their families, beat, tortured and abused in presence of their children and women,” the indictment alleges.

The indictment also alleges that the victims were forcibly taken to the execution site and forced to dig their own graves. After that, they were shot and buried.

“Bodies of a small number of victims were found, exhumed and identified after the war, while the remains of the majority of the victims are still being searched for,” the indictment says.

The prosecution accuses Novakovic of having committed the crime during a widespread and systematic attack by the Bosnian Serb Army, police force, Territorial Defence force and other armed groups and paramilitary formations against the Bosniak civilian population in the municipality of Bosanski Novi.

The indictment has been filed to the state court for confirmation.

A separate trial of several other former fighters for crimes in the villages of Alici and Ekici is already underway.

The defendants are Ljuban Babic, Ranko Balaban, Rajko Karlica, Milenko Brcin, Mirko Odzic, Milenko Babic, Ratko Goronja, Nikola Reljic, Dragan and Ranko Baltic, Miroslav Kapetanovic and Ranko Grab.