ON ORDER OF PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BIH, TWO PERSONS SUSPECTED OF CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY IN BANJA LUKA

The suspects are under investigation for a crime of killing at least 78 Bosniak civilians in Velagići, Ključ municipality, in June 1992.

Acting on an order of a prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes, SIPA police officers located, identified and deprived of liberty the following suspects in the Banja Luka area:

-          Boško Unčanin, born in 1969 in Prijedor,

-          Dragan Despot, born in 1964, in Lanište, Ključ.

The suspects are under investigation by the Special Department for War Crimes and are suspected of acting contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War during a large-scale and systematic attack on the Bosniak civilian population in the general territory of Bosanska Krajina.

They are charged that on 1 June 1992, in Velagići, Ključ Municipality, they personally and directly, along with other persons, upon a prior agreement, forced out Bosniak civilians detained in the primary school building.

The evicted civilians were ordered to line up in front of the school, after which the accused, along with other people, opened fire from automatic weapons and executed at least 78 victims, whose bodies were transported by trucks and buried in a mass grave. In 1996, the remains were found and exhumed from the Lanište II mass grave.

The suspects are charged with having committed the criminal offence of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the day, the suspects will be handed over to the case prosecutor, who will interview them, and then decide on further activities in the case.