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INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST PULJIĆ MILE (1954) CHARGING HIM WITH CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED IN THE MOSTAR AREA
18.12.2014. 17:08- Puljić Mile, born on June 20, 1954 in Stolac, residing in Mostar, citizen of BiH and the Republic of Croatia.
The accused is charged with having acted contrary to the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law during the war in Bosnia and the conflict between the Army of BiH and HVO, in his capacity as the Commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Brigade of the HVO in the Mostar area, all within a widespread and systematic attack directed against Bosniak civilian population.
He is charged with having participated in a joint criminal enterprise during the course of which war crimes were committed against the Bosniak victims.
These crimes were committed through enforced disappearances, unlawful arrests of Bosniaks and their incarceration in prisons and detention camps, use of civilians from the detention camps for forced labor on the front line and for the purpose of serving as human shields, as well as the expulsion of women, children and the elderly, who were then illegally detained at various locations and forcibly transferred to the territory controlled by the Army of BiH.
During the commission of these crimes, Bosniaks who were unlawfully incarcerated at Heliodrom and other detention facilities were taken out to perform forced labor on the front line, forced to serve as human shields and abused in other ways; 11 Bosniak victims were killed and more than 70 victims were injured; two persons were taken in an unknown direction and have been unaccounted for until their remains were found and exhumed after the war.
The indictment alleges that groups of unlawfully incarcerated Bosniak civilians ranging in numbers from a dozen to more than a hundred were taken out of Heliodrom and other locations, on several occasions, to perform forced labor.
The crimes described in the indictment indicate that about 15 Bosniak victims were physically abused and tortured in humiliating ways by members of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Brigade of the HVO, which was commanded by the accused.
It is a very extensive indictment, which relates to a large number of war crimes committed during 1993 and 1994 against hundreds of Bosniak victims.
Voluminous evidence containing hundreds of exhibits and a list of 85 witnesses that the prosecution intends to examine as well as two expert witnesses were forwarded along with the indictment to the court.
The accused is charged with having committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 of the CC BiH.
This announcement does not prejudice the outcome of the criminal proceedings and does not violate the principle of the presumption of innocence. A person shall be considered innocent of a crime until guilt has been established by a final verdict (Article 3, paragraph 1 of the CPC BiH).