Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes within the Prosecutor's Office of BiH issued an indictment against Vehid SUBOTIĆ, aka "Geler", born on May 29, 1973 in Kotorsko, a place located in Doboj municipality, residing in Zenica, with prior convictions, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The accused Vehid SUBOTIĆ is charged to have, during the armed conflict between the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defense Council in Dusina - a place located in the municipality of Zenica, violated the rules of international law i.e. the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of August 12, 1949 listed under Article 3, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1a), in conjunction with Article 147 and Article 75, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph a) of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions from 1977 which prohibits violence to life and person, in particular murder, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.
In the aforementioned period Vehid SUBOTIĆ was a member of the Army of R BiH, II Battalion of the 7th Muslim Brigade.
The indictment alleges that on January 26, 1993 at about 5:30 a.m. in Dusina he and other members of the II Battalion, stormed the above mentioned village and surrounded the houses of Croat civilians; he then ordered capture of about 40 civilians along with several disarmed HVO /CDC/ soldiers and their line up near the house of one of the captured civilians. He then, together with others, separated 8 Croat civilians and escorted them to the said house ordering each company member to kill one civilian.
According to the indictment, the accused singled out a civilian from the group and one of the company members fired a burst from an automatic weapon from a distance 2-3 meters following which the civilian fell to the ground and as he was still showing signs of life, the accused ordered that another burst be fired at him, following which the civilian died instantly. He then singled out another civilian and started the physical abuse by hitting him to the head and kicking him in the stomach and legs, which made the civilian fall on the ground with visible physical injuries. He then approached the third, whom he began questioning and ordered the civilian to walk the trail leading towards the house in front of him only to fire several bullets to his back from an automatic rifle as the civilian walked in front of him; the civilian in question succumbed due to wounds. The accused then moved on to a separate group of civilians and disarmed members of the HVO and together with other members opened fire from automatic weapons into the backs of lined up civilians thus depriving four civilians of life; when they approached yet another captured civilian the accused ordered them to stop the killings.
Consequently, the accused is charged to have committed the previously described criminal actions thus committing the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians under Article 173, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph c) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, depriving another person of life, killings, intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon a person; all in conjunction with Article 180, Paragraph 1 of the same Code.
The indictment was forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.