WAR CRIMES INDICTMENT FOR VITEZ AREA ISSUED

The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH issued an indictment against  Mensud Keleštur* aka "Keli", born in 1959 in Zenica and Hazim Jašarević* aka "Šimek", born in 1953 in Vitez. They are charged with having acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War during the war and armed conflict between the Army of RBiH and the HVO, in their capacity as commanders of the Army of the Republic of BiH.

The accused are charged with having participated, wile acting in the capacities i.e. Mensur Keleštura as the commander of the 325^th Mountain Brigade of the Army of RBiH, and Hasim Jašarević as the commander of the Brigade Artillery, in an artillery attack conducted on 10 June 1993 against civilian objects inhabited by the Croat population. As as a result of the attack a grenade fired from a 120 mm mortar exploded on a children’s playground, killing eight Croat children, five of whom were killed immediately while three more died soon after from their wounds. Five more children who were on the playground were wounded.

The accused are charged with committing the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians under Article 173 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.