WAR CRIMES INDICTMENT ISSUED FOR BOSANSKI BROD

The accused is charged with war crimes committed against dozens of Serb victims, including deprivation of life and forced disappearance of more than 10 persons and rape and abuse of a large number of Serb female victims.

A Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes within the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH issued an indictment against the following person:

- Kurdija Mladen, born on May 19, 1958 in Slavonski Brod, residing in Zadar County, citizen of the Republic of Croatia.

The accused is charged with having acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War during the war in BiH and the armed conflict in the area of Bosanski Brod and its surrounding, while  acting in his capacity as the commander of the 101^st Military Police Brigade of HVO.

Kurdija Mladen is charged with having committed war crimes, both alone and with other HVO members, against dozens of Serbs who were unlawfully incarcerated in the police building in Bosanski Brod and the premises of the stadium of FC Polet. The buildings in question were used for illegal incarceration of a large number of Serb men and women of different ages in inhumane conditions.

The indictment alleges that the victims were tortured, abused and beaten; more than 10 prisoners have died from beatings while some of the prisoners were taken away after which they disappeared without a trace only to be found and exhumed  after the war.

Part of the indictment refers to the rape and sexual abuse of a number of Serb women, who suffered multiple rapes on different locations as well as rapes committed in extremely degrading manner in front of other inmates, and in one case in front of the husband of the raped victim.

The accused is also charged with having unlawfully taken a number of civilians to serve as human shields, where they suffered severe physical and psychological torture and injuries due to firing.

The accused is charged with having , both alone and with other members of the HVO, participated in torture, abuse and beatings of Serb prisoners , who were beaten and abused in a particularly cruel way, and with having failed to do  anything to stop the torture, rape and sexual abuse of prisoners or to punish the perpetrators of these crimes.

The accused is charged with the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians under Article 173 of the CC BiH.

This indictment is the most comprehensive indictment in the Special Department for War Crimes that refers to war crimes and the suffering of  Serb victims in the area of Bosanski Brod and Posavina.  

The indictment is accompanied with a proposed list of  more than 30 witnesses that the prosecution intends to examine and a considerable body of evidence containing hundreds of exhibits.

The indictment was forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.