INDICTMENT ISSUED FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED IN VLASENICA AREA

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

- PREDRAG BASTAH, born in 1953, a citizen of BiH and the Republic of Serbia.

According to the allegations from the indictment, the accused is charged with participating in the killing of 37 Bosniak civilians as a member of the reserve forces of the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior – Vlasenica Public Security Station, together with two other members of the Republika Srpska Army, within a widespread and systematic attack against the non-Serb population in the municipality of Vlasenica, at the site “Mračni dol” (Mračnica), municipality of Vlasenica.

According to the indictment’s allegations, the accused secured execution sites and, with the threat of a weapon, directed the victims who were on the bus to the site where they were executed, and the victims had been previously brought by bus from the prison behind the court building in Vlasenica and the Sušica camp.

The bodies of the victims were found and exhumed in 2000, at the same place where they were executed.

The accused is charged with the criminal offence of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 (1) (h) as read with Paragraph (a) of the Criminal Code of BiH, all in conjunction with Article 180 (1) and Article 29 of the same Code.

The prosecution will prove the indictment’s allegations by calling 44 witnesses, of which 2 are expert-witnesses, and by enclosing dozens of pieces of material evidence.

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