SUSPECT OF WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN VAREŠ IN 1993 DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY

The person deprived of liberty is Željko Marić (1969), as he is subject to investigation for war crimes committed against the captured civilians and members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the area of Vareš, in 1993.

Acting upon the order of a Prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes, police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) have located and deprived of liberty the following suspect:

- Željko Marić aka Ninja, born in 1968 in Bjelavci, Kakanj Municipality

The suspect is under investigation and he is charged with acting in violation of the rules of international humanitarian law and provisions of the Geneva Conventions relative to the protection of civilian population and war prisoners in time of war, while he was a member of the 7^th Military Police Battalion of the Vitez Croatian Defence Council (HVO), in October of 1993, during the war and armed conflict between the HVO and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the territory of the Municipality of Vareš.

The suspect is charged with deliberately inflicting severe physical and mental pain on war prisoners and civilians of Bosniak ethnicity, who were imprisoned in the building of the HVO Military Police in Vareš.

The aforementioned suspect is charged with the commission of the criminal offence of War Crimes against Prisoners of War and the criminal offence of War Crimes against Civilian Population.     

Having questioned the suspect, the Prosecutor in charge of the case will make a decision regarding further activities in this case.