INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST NEĐELJKO KULJIĆ AND ŽELJKO ILIĆ

The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has issued an Indictment against two persons charged with the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity, as referred to in Article 172, Paragraph 1, item (h) in conjunction with Article 29 of the Criminal Code of BiH, all in conjunction with Article 180, Paragraph (1) of the same Code.

A Prosecutor of the Regional team 4 within the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has issued an Indictment against the following persons:

- Neđeljko Kuljić, born on 18 June 1950 in Simijova, Bileća Municipality, where he also resides, and

- Željko Ilić, born on 10 October 1962 in Bileća, where he also resides.

These accused persons are charged with the persecution of non-Serb civilians on national and religious grounds and with a discriminatory intent, by acting inhumanely and thus torturing and killing the civilians and abusing them physically and mentally while performing the duty of police officers in the Bileća Public Security Station in time of war in BiH, from early June through December 1992, and as part of the widespread and systematic attack of the RS army, police and paramilitary formations directed against Bosniak and Croat civilians in the wider territory of Bileća Municiaplity, having knowledge of the attack and that their actions form a part of the attack.

As alleged in the Indictment, apart from the persecution of Bosniak and Croat population from the territory of Bileća Municipality during the widespread and systematic attack supervised by police members of the Bileća Public Security Station and these accused persons among them, the acts that they perpetrated included unlawful arrests of 150 to 160 Bosniak and Croat civilians, unlawful imprisonments in the Bileća Public Security Station and Student’s Dormitory in Bileća, in inhumane conditions, as well as torture in an extremely humiliating manner, beatings of prisoners and other inhumane acts.

The acts of these accused persons are closely linked with the acts of their superior members of active police force in the Bileća Public Security Station and the acts of members of military or paramilitary formations.

Many prisoners were physically and mentally abused by police officers and mostly by these accused persons, by being beaten and thus subjected to severe injuries, whereas one person succumbed to his wounds.

These accused persons are charged with personal participation in torturing prisoners and acting inhumanely towards them by mistreating them with the intention of inflicting serous physical and mental injuries upon them and deteriorating their health, whereas the abuse which the accused Neđeljko Kuljić personally participated in resulted in the death of one person.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.