INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST THREE PERSONS ACCUSED OF WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN BUGOJNO

A prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes has issued an indictment against the following persons:

1.     Dževad Mlaćo, born in 1954, in Bugojno, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina

2.     Selmo Cikotić, born in 1964, in Trpezi, in Berane, Montenegro, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina

3.     Tahir Granić, born in 1959, in Bugojno, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The aforementioned accused persons are charged with the following: during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the conflict between the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH Army) and the HVO, the accused Mlaćo in his capacity as the President of the War Presidency of the Municipality of Bugojno, and the accused Cikotić in his capacity as the Commander of the West Operational Group of the RBiH Army, and the accused Granić as the Commander of the 307^th Brigade of the RBiH Army, acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Prisoners of War, during the war, and they committed the criminal offence of War Crimes against Prisoners of War, referred to in Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The indictment alleges that the accused Dževad Mlaćo ordered the killings of prisoners of Croatian ethnicity, in such a way that a list of prisoners to be killed was drawn up, and then the prisoners were taken to the premises of the BH Bank, where the death of three prisoners occurred as a result of torture, beatings and abuse, after which the remaining prisoners were taken to the Mount Rostovo by the members of the Military Police and the RBiH Army, and they were killed at locations that the accused personally determined and visited, while their bodies were subsequently removed and hidden.

After the war, the bodies of four of the killed persons were found and exhumed, whereas the bodies of the remaining victims are still being searched for, more than 30 years after the crime was committed.

The defendants Cikotić and Granić are accused, as Commanders of the RBiH Army, of having issued orders to take captured persons of Croatian ethnicity, at gunpoint, to perform forced labour on the front lines acting as "human shields”, where their lives were endangered, as a result of which two prisoners were killed and several prisoners were wounded, and the accused Cikotić also failed to prevent the beatings, torture and killings of the captured HVO members, and although he had information about the crimes committed, he did not take measures to prevent them and punish the perpetrators.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina will prove the allegations in the indictment by calling 62 witnesses, including two witnesses who will testify with protection measures and two expert witnesses, as well as by submitting around 780 pieces of material evidence.

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