BY ORDER OF THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BIH A PERSON SUSPECTED OF COMMITTING WAR CRIMES IN THE AREA OF BIHAĆ WAS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY IN BANJA LUKA

By order of a Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes within the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH SIPA officers arrested Željko Stanarević - born on September 30, 1969 in Bihać, early this morning in Piskavac - Banja Luka.

The above-mentioned suspect is under investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and is suspected of having committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 of the CC BiH in Hrgar while acting as a member of the Bihać 15^th Military Police Brigade.

He is, in particular, suspected with having, together with other members of the Military Police of the VRS /RS Army/ in June 1992, participated in the taking of captured Bosniak civilians away from the circle of PSS Ripač, their killing at the location of Hrgar and subsequent dumping of the victims’ bodies in a  natural pit - Bezdan. During the exhumation carried out in 1997 at the aforementioned location the remains of 83 persons were unearthed.

The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has, in cooperation with police officers of the War Crimes Department of Una-Sana Canton MoI and SIPA officers, conducted a thorough investigation and collected evidence on suspected perpetrators of this war crime.

The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH continues, together with police operatives, with the activities on detection and arrest of other persons who participated in this war crime.

The suspect Stanarević will, within the legal deadline, be handed over to the Assigned Prosecutor who will question him and then decide on a motion for remand in custody.