INDICTMENT ISSUED FOR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED IN 1992 IN BOSANSKI NOVI MUNICIPALITY

The accused is charged with the war crime committed in villages of Alići and Ekići, where twenty-seven (27) Bosniak civilians were killed on 22 June 1992.

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes has issued an Indictment against the following person:

-      Željko Novaković, born in 1973 in Bosanski Novi/Novi Grad, a resident of Belgrade, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina and 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, during the widespread and systematic attack of the Army of Republika Srpska, police, territorial defence, armed groups and paramilitary formations, directed against the Bosniak civilian population in the area of the municipality of Bosanski Novi.

The accused is charged with participating personally and directly, together with other persons, in the killings, torture and persecution of Bosniak civilian population from the villages of Ekići and Alići. 

During the attack on the aforementioned villages and persecution of population from their houses and homes, the accused participated, personally and directly, together with other persons, in the killing of twenty-seven (27) Bosniak men, after they had previously separated them from their families and beat up, tortured and mistreated them in the presence of their children and wives.

According to the information gathered, the victims were forcibly brought to the execution site and they were forced to dig their own grave in which they would be thrown, and then they were shot at and killed and buried in that grave. 

Bodies of a small number of victims have been found, exhumed and identified after the war, whereas mortal remains of a majority of the victims are still unaccounted for. 

The aforementioned accused is charged with the commission of the criminal offence of Crimes against Humanity, as referred to in Article 172 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

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