Bosnia’s state court has indicted three individuals under one indictment for genocide committed in Srebrenica, July 1995. The court also indicted the three for rape during war, the first time that a court has included rape in a genocide indictment for Srebrenica.
Dusko Jevic, Mendeljev Djuric and Goran Markovic’s indictment was submited on 18 January and confirmed four days later.
Jevic is indicted as deputy commander of the Special Police Brigade of the Ministry of internal affairs of Republika Srpska, MUP RS, and the Commander of the Training Center of the Special Police Brigade Jahorina. Djuric was commanding officer of the 1st Squad of the Training Center Jahorina and Markovic was commanding officer of the 2nd Platoon of the 1st Squad of the Training Center Jahorina.
The indictment said that all three “commanded their units, acting individually and in concert with other participants, planned, ordered, incited and took part in the realisation of the systemic and joint criminal act” from 10 to 19 July, 1995.
Their units took part in mass killings of men and women from Srebrenica and their forced separation and deportation from what was once a UN safe zone.
The prosecution believes that members of their units took a part in the rape of “at least one woman in Bijela kuca (White House)” in Potocari.
“As well as murder, rape was committed as a part of systematic joint criminal enterprise with the intention to forcefully replace Bosniak citizens of Srebrenica,” the indictment said.
Bijela kuca was one of the buildings in Potocari used by Serb forces after the fall of the town as a temporary detention center. Men and women were separated in Potocari, where a Dutch battalion was stationed. Civilians were running to the UN base with the belief that they would be safe.
After separation, men were taken to different locations and killed, and women forcibly deported from the area of Srebrenica. More that 8,000 people, mostly men, were killed after the fall of Srebrenica.
According to data from the Association of Women Victims of war from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “huge number” of women and girls were raped after the fall of Srebrenica. No exact number is known.
All three indicted are in detention since October and December 2009 as the prosecution believes that they could try to influence witnesses in the case.
According to the prosecution, during the investigation some of the potential witnesses claim that the indicted or members of their families tried to contact them.
Further investigations, including a couple of dozens of suspects, are ongoing in Bosnia.
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Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.