PERSON SUSPECTED OF CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED IN 1992 IN BRČKO DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY IN UGLJEVIK

The suspect Ivan Đurić (1971) is charged with crimes committed against victims of Bosniak, Croatian and Albanian ethnicity, unlawfully detained in the Luka camp in Brčko, in 1992, including crimes committed together with the indictees prosecuted by the ICTY.

Acting on an order of a Prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes, in the early morning hours in the Ugljevik area, police officers of the State Investigation and Protection Agency - SIPA located, identified and arrested the suspect Ivan Đurić, born in 1971 in Bijeljina.

The suspect is under investigation by the Special Department for War Crimes and he is charged with acting contrary to 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, police and paramilitary formations on the civilian Bosniak and Croatian population in a wider area of Brčko, while he was a member of the Intervention Police Platoon.

He is charged with committing murders and other inhumane acts of a similar nature, against victims who were unlawfully detained and brought to the Luka camp in Brčko.

The Special Department for War Crimes has collected incriminating evidence of the suspect’s brutal killing of two detained Bosniak civilians and one Croatian civilian, which he perpetrated directly and personally, using firearms and cold steel.

Furthermore, the suspect is charged with repeated beating of Bosniak, Croatian and Albanian detainees, which he did together with Goran Jelisić aka "Adolf" (who has been prosecuted and convicted at the ICTY in The Hague) and with other persons, using batons, cold steel and metal objects specially made for that purpose, thus inflicting permanent and severe bodily and mental harm to the detainees. He was torturing and abusing the detainees, looting them and taking their money and clothing, and he committed other inhumane acts and tortured them in a degrading manner.

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

During the day, the suspect will be brought before the Prosecutor in charge of this case, who will examine the suspect and decide on further activities in the case.