INDICTMENT ISSUED FOR WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE AREA OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF GORNJI VAKUF/USKOPLJE

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against the following person:
-      Suad Ramić aka Buba, born on 24 May 1966 in Bugojno, residing in Gornji Vakuf, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the allegations in the Indictment, the accused is charged with acting in contravention of the rules of the international humanitarian law and in violation of the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, in 1992, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the armed conflict between the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the territory of the Municipality of Gornji Vakuf/Uskoplje, while he was a member of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The aforementioned accused is charged with stopping a vehicle in front of the Fire Station, in July of 1992, together with other members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with taking two Croat men out of the car; he dragged one of those persons by force out of the car and then physically mistreated him. Afterwards, they physically mistreated those civilians while they were taking them to a catering facility in which a larger number of Croat civilians had already been brought in the meantime.

This accused person is charged with taking the imprisoned civilians out of the catering facility and to a pool by the facility, together with other members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina; once there, he and other members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina forced the imprisoned civilians to turn towards the pool’s wall while in the squatting position, and then they started shooting from their firearms in the direction of the civilians and the bullets started hitting the pool’s wall above the civilians’ heads; subsequently, Suad Ramić forced the civilians to swim in an empty pool, while he was shooting in their direction and hitting the pool’s bottom around them, all of which caused severe physical and mental pain with these civilians; later, the civilians were forced to carry grenades to front lines and then they were imprisoned in the basement of a house.  

The aforementioned accused is charged with the commission of the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians, as referred to in Article 173 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as read with Article 29 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all in conjunction with Article 180 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.