INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST SAŠA CVETKOVIĆ FOR WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE AREAS OF SREBRENICA AND BRATUNAC

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against:

-      Saša Cvetković, born in 1972 in Ljubovija in the Republic of Serbia, a citizen of the Republic of Serbia.

This accused person is charged with acting in violation of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war, while he was a member of the Army of Republika Srpska, during the war and armed conflict between the Territorial Defence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Army of Republika Srpska.

He is charged with entering the courtyard of a family house in Kolonija settlement of the Sase local commune in Srebrenica Municipality, together with two other soldiers of the Republika Srpska Army known to him, in April and May of 1992, during the immediate war danger in the territories of Srebrenica and Bratunac, and taking a male person under gunpoint onto the local road, hitting him with a baton all over his body and threatening him with an automatic rifle; then, he ordered him to go to the neighbouring village and tell the neighbours there to surrender voluntarily, threatening him to kill members of his close family if he does not do so.  

When the victim did not return within the given period of time, the accused went in front of the family house again and killed two civilians of Bosniak ethnicity, who were the aforementioned victim’s family members, by shooting at them at close range.

According to the allegations in the Indictment, the accused person is charged with taking, together with another soldier, three female persons out of the premises of the Sase Zinc and Lead Mine complex where Bosniak civilians were imprisoned, and driving them in the direction of Bratunac, where another soldier joined them. They took the victims to an abandoned house and raped and sexually abused them there, which left permanent consequences on the victims that can be felt even today. One of the victims was subjected to multiple rapes committed by the accused and other soldiers, which inflicted serious violation of bodily integrity and mental health upon that victim.  

This accused person is charged with the commission of the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilian Population, as referred to in Article 142 of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  

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