Bosnia, guards of a detention camp accused of abusing prisoners: the 15 agents had been detained in the military prison of Banja Luka

ROME – The Bosnian prosecution accused 15 former guards of crimes against civilians and prisoners of war who had been detained in the Banja Luka military-investigative prison, known as Mali Logor, from 1992 to 1995. Balkan Transitional Justice, the Transitional Justice Program in the Balkans, a platform that aims to improve public understanding of transitional justice issues in the former Yugoslav countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. It enjoys the support of the European Commission, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German Foundation Robert Bosch Foundation.

The defendants and the prosecution. The prosecutor announced on Friday that he had charged the former director, deputy director and guards of the military-investigation prison in the town of Banja Luka, known as Mali Logor, with crimes against Bosnian and Croat civilian prisoners and prisoners of war. . The defendants are: Rajko and Dusko Drljaca, Milic Bucan, Goran Jorgic, Goran Bojic, Svetislav Cvijetic, Uros Grab, Aleksandar Jankovic, Igor Kljakic, Milenko Letic, Borislav Milakovic, Drasko Radusinovic, Gojko Soldat, Mile Vuckovic and Goran Savic. “The crimes committed – the indictment claims – refer to illegal detentions, beatings, detention of people in inhumane conditions, abuse, sexual abuse and other inhumane acts, which were committed against several dozen victims, Bosniak and Croatian civilians and prisoners of war, including women and the elderly, including others, and some beatings also had fatal consequences”.

Cruel killings of civilians. In a separate indictment by the state prosecutor’s office, also announced last Friday, a former Serbian policeman, Elvis Djuric, was accused of committing war crimes in Vlasenica in 1992. The indictment said Djuric participated in attacks on inhabited villages by Bosniaks, including Dzamadzici, Alihodzici and Durakovici, where civilians were murdered and property looted and set on fire. “The defendant was accused of cruelly killing a Bosnian civilian using knives, as well as torture, intimidation, illegal detention of civilians in Susica detention camp and other inhumane acts,” he said. He is accused, as a member of the reserve police force at the Vlasenica Public Security Station, of committing a crime against humanity as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Bosniak civilian population in the Vlasenica area. Djuric holds citizenship of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, and currently lives in Serbia, the indictment said. Both charges have been sent to state court for confirmation.