INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST RADOMIR ŠUŠNJAR FOR WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE AREA OF VIŠEGRAD

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against Radomir Šušnjar aka Lalco, born in 1955 in Sase, in Višegrad Municipality, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The accused is expected to be extradited from the Republic of France.  

This accused person is charged with acting in violation of the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war, in June of 1992, during the war and armed conflict between the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Army of Republika Srpska, in the territory of the Municipality of Višegrad.

According to the allegations in the Indictment, this accused person is charged with coming to a house on Pionirska Street personally and together with other members of paramilitary formations and the Army of Republika Srpska armed with automatic weapons, where Bosniak civilians from the village of Koritnik had been brought; there, they threatened the prisoners that they would kill them if they did not hand over their money and valuables. The accused Šušnjar personally searched the civilians to make sure that they did not hide anything, using threats and insults while doing so. 

This accused person is also charged with ordering the civilians to go to another house in a column on that same night, and to enter a room on the ground floor of that house. He then personally pushed the last civilian from the column into the house, after which they locked the door. The Indictment alleges that, subsequently, an incendiary explosive device was thrown into the room which caused fire to break out, and then the accused threw in a hand grenade, whereas at the same time shots were being fired at the house from automatic weapons in order to prevent the civilians from escaping.

There were fifty-seven (57) civilians imprisoned in that house, women, children and elderly included, and they were burned alive. Only a few persons managed to escape and save themselves, whereas the mortal remains of the killed persons have not yet been found.

This event, known as a ‘living bonfire’ in the house on Pionirska Street, was prosecuted as part of the cases dealt with by the ICTY, and the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has established significant cooperation with the ICTY.

Due to the foregoing, this accused person is charged with the commission of the criminal offence of War Crimes against Civilian Population, as referred to in Article 142 of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in conjunction with Article 22 of the same Code.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.