INDICTMENT ISSUED FOR WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN KRIŽANČEVO SELO IN 1993

A total of 8 indictees are charged with having committed war crimes against prisoners of war and civilians by killing at least 12 HVO soldiers who had previously surrendered, as well as two women of Croatian ethnicity in Križančevo Selo near Vitez on 22 December 1993.

A prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH filed an indictment against:

1. Ibrahim Purić, aka “Ibro”, born in 1953 in Dolac,
2. Ibrahim Tarahija, born in 1959 in Vitez,
3. Nijaz Sivro, born in 1957 in Vitez,
4. Rušit Nurković, born in 1958 in Seosnik, Montenegro,
5. Almir Sarajlić, aka “Roki", born in 1968 in Travnik,
6. Šaćir Omanović, born in 1973 in Vitez,
7. Kasim Kavazović, born in 1972 in Travnik,
8. Sadik Osmanović, born in 1968 in Vitez.

The indictees are charged with the fact that during the war and armed conflict between the Army of the Republic of BiH (A RBiH) and the HVO, they, in the capacity of a commander and members of the A RBiH from the Central Bosnia and Vitez areas, namely the indictee Purić as Commander of 325 Brigade of the A RBiH and Commander of the Tactical Group (TG) North of 3 Corps of the A RBiH, the indictee Tarahija as Commander of 3 Battalion of 325 Mountain Brigade of the A RBiH, the indictee Sivro as Assistant Commander for Security within 325 Mountain Brigade of the A RBiH, the indictee Nurković as Assistant Commander for Morality, Information and Propaganda (IPD) and Religious Affairs (VP) within 325 Mountain Brigade of the A RBiH, and the remaining four indictees as members of 325 Mountain Brigade of the A RBiH, acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Prisoners of War and Civilians in Time of War.

They are charged with having committed war crimes against Croatian victims in the villages of Križančevo Selo, Šafradin and Dubravica, where, on 22 December 1993, at least 12 prisoners of HVO who had previously surrendered, as well as two civilians - women of Croatian ethnicity, were killed and where the plundering and destruction of property took place. The bodies of the killed were exchanged 40 days after the crime.

Also, individual suspects, as commanders of A RBiH units, are charged that they were directly involved in the commission of the crime and that they did not take any activities to prevent crimes and prosecute and punish perpetrators.

The said war crime is one of those that involved the largest number of Croatian casualties in the area of Vitez and its surroundings in the recent war in which several dozens of victims were killed and the property stolen and destroyed.

The indictees are charged with the criminal offence of War Crimes against Prisoners of War in violation of Article 175 of the Criminal Code of BiH and War Crimes against Civilians in violation of Article 173 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

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