INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST TEN PERSONS FOR A WAR CRIME COMMITTED IN ŠTRPCI

This Indictment is a result of good and intensive cooperation between the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia, based on the Protocol on Cooperation.

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against ten (10) persons, members of the Army of Republika Srpska from the area of Višegrad, for a war crime committed against passengers from the train operating from Belgrade to Bar, who were abducted at the Štrpci station in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 27 February 1993.

As alleged in the Indictment, after the train was stopped, twenty (20) victims were abducted, namely eighteen (18) persons of Bosniak ethnicity, mostly from the territory of Sandžak, citizens of Serbia and Montenegro, one (1) person of Croat ethnicity and one (1) person of Arab ethnicity. 

After the abduction, the victims were taken to a school in Prelovo near Višegrad, where they were tortured, mistreated and robbed and then those victims, whose wounds were visible, were transported to Mušići where they were killed and their bodies were thrown into the Drina River.

After the war, mortal remains of four (4) victims were found and identified, whereas mortal remains of other victims are yet to be found.

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes has conducted thorough investigation in this case and achieved significant cooperation with the colleagues from the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia, which resulted in an Indictment against ten (10) persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, whereas, in Serbia, an Indictment was also issued two (2) months ago and proceedings are being conducted against five (5) persons accused for the crime in Štrpci.

Such an intensive and professional cooperation of the two Prosecutor’s Offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, respectively, resulted in initiating and intensifying investigations and issuing indictments twenty-two (22) years after the commission of the crime in question.  

The Prosecutor’s Offices of the two respective states had the support of, and good cooperation with, families of victims of this crime who have been searching for the truth about their dearest ones and their mortal remains for more than two decades now.

The Indictment has been issued against the following persons: 

1.    Luka Dragičević, born on 14 November 1951 in Višegrad,

2.    Boban Inđić, born on 22 May 1972 in Višegrad,

3.    Obrad Poluga, born on 16 October 1971 in Višegrad,

4.    Novak Poluga, born on 14 November 1963 in Višegrad,

5.    Dragan Šekarić aka “Pive“, born on 04 November 1969 in Goražde,

6.    Oliver Krsmanović, born on 13 August 1963 in Višegrad,

7.    Petko Inđić, born on 26 August 1960 in Višegrad,

8.    Radojica Ristić aka “Rile“, born on 21 December 1969 in Višegrad,

9.    Vuk Ratković, born on 14 March 1950 in Višegrad,

10.   Mićo Jovičić aka “Splića“ and „Crni“, born on 10 August 1961 in Vinkovci

These accused persons are charged as coo-perpetrators in their capacity of members of the Višegrad Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska, that is, Luka Dragičević as a person giving orders and others as persons carrying out orders to unlawfully take away and imprison civilian population, to treat them inhumanely and inflict great sufferings and violations of physical integrity upon them and kill that civilian population, thus violating the rules of international law, whereby they committed the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians.

In its Indictment, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposes hearing of fifty-one (51) witnesses, and more than a hundred (100) pieces of evidentiary material has been submitted together with the Indictment.  

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