| Press Release |
REGISTRY
|
| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
|
The Hague, 25 July 1995
CC/PIO/013e
Milan Martic, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic indicted along with 21 other accused.
Warrants of arrest have been issued.
The Croatian Serb MILAN MARTIC, president of the Croatian Serb administration of Kninself-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK), and the Bosnian Serbs RADOVAN KARADZIC, president of the Bosnian Serb administration of Pale, and RATKO MLADIC, commander of the army of the Bosnian Serb administration, are among the 24 at the top of a list of 24 accused whose indictments are announced today by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Warrants for the arrest of the 24 accused have been issued.
MILAN MARTIC is charged with war crimes in connection with was investigated for the firing of cluster-bombs into the central part of Zagreb on 2 and 3 May 1995.
RADOVAN KARADZIC and RATKO MLADIC are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, among others, arising from atrocities were investigated, and still are, for crimes perpetrated against the civilian population throughout Bosnia-and-Herzegovina, for the sniping campaign against civilians in Sarajevo, and for the taking of UN-peacekeepers as hostages and their use as human shields.
21 other individuals who are indicted in relation with three specific investigations :
1) Prijedor: Keraterm "camp (13 accused) : the commander DUSKO SIKIRICA; three shift commanders, DAMIR DOSEN, DRAGAN FUSTAR, DRAGAN KULUNDZIJA; four guards or interrogators, NENAD BANOVIC, PREDRAG BANOVIC, GORAN LAJIC, DRAGAN KONDIC; and five frequent visitors of the camp, NENAD BANOVIC, PREDRAG BANOVIC, GORAN LAJIC, DRAGAN KONDIC; and five frequent visitors of the camp NINIKICA JANJIC, DUSAN KNEZEVIC, DRAGOMIR SAPONJA, NEDJELJKO TIMARAC, ZORAN ZIGIC.
2) Bosanski Samac (6 accused) : the Deputy Commander of the "Grey Wolves", a paramilitary unit from Serbia, SLOBODAN MILJKOVIC; the president of the local Serbian Democratic Partythree local politicians, BLAGOJE SIMIC, and two other local politicians MILAN SIMIC, MIROSLAV TADIC; the Chief of Police for Bosanski Samac, STEVAN TODOROVIC; the Supervisor of a Serb territorial defence unit, SIMO ZARIC.
3) Brcko (2 accused) : the commander of Luka camp, GORAN JELISIC; and RANKO CESIC, a person in a position of authority at Luka camp.
CONFIRMATION OF THE INDICTMENTS
Indictments and Warrant of Arrest
As a result of the five above-mentioned, indictments and warrants of arrest were issued.
The indictments "Sikirica and others" (Keraterm investigations), "Miljkovic and others" (Bosanski Samac), and "Jelisic and Cesic"other (Brcko) were confirmed, and the warrants of arrest were signed, by Judge Vohrah on Friday 21 July 1995.
The indictments returned against "Martic", and "Karadzic and -Mladic" were confirmed, and the warrants of arrest for their arrest, were signed, by Judge Jorda on Tuesday 25 July 1995.
FULL MOBILIZATION OF OTP'S RESOURCES
Those five indictments bring up to 46 the number of individuals accused of serious violations of international humanitarian law by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) within its first year of operation.
They are the result of extensive investigations by several teams of investigators, attorneys, analysts and translators from the Office of the Prosecutor.
A total of ( ) persons were involved, who travelled to ( ) different countries to examine evidence and to interview ( ) victims and ( )
FULL PICTURE OF OTP'S STRATEGY
As stated by Justice Richard Goldstone (see attached), those five indictments illustrate of the strategy of the Office of the Prosecutor :
1) they are related to events which occurred in both Croatia and Bosnia, and to atrocities committed against Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and Croatians
2) they cover events which took place in 1992 (Keraterm, Bosanski Samac, Brcko), and in 1995 (Zagreb, Tuzla), as well as to the conduct of some leaders throughout this period of time (Karadzic and Mladic)
3) they indicate a wide range of crimes : the setting-up of "death camps" (Keraterm, Bosanski Samac and Luka), the campaigns of terror following the take-over by Serb military forces of areas or towns (Prijedor, Bosanski Samac, Brcko), the firing of rockets into cities (Zagreb), the deportation of civilians, the shelling of civilian gatherings, the plunder and destruction of property, the destruction of sacred sites, the sniping campaign in Sarajevo, the targetting of UN-peacekeepers.
4) Lastly, they illustrate the variety of those accused, in terms of rank and degree of participation.
THE CRIMES
A number of accused have been indicted on the basis of their superior authority and control in respect of the crimes committed by their subordinates. They are: MILAN MARTIC; RADOVAN KARADZIC and RATKO MLADIC; DUSKO SIKIRICA, DAMIR DOSEN, DRAGAN FUSTAR and DRAGAN KULUNDZICA (Keraterm); BLAGOJE SIMIC (Bosanski Samac).
The crimes charged in the five indictments, either on the basis of superior authority or on the basis of direct responsability, are:
1. Genocide, being prohibited acts (such as, among others, killing members of a group or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group) committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic or religious group.
Indicted for genocide are : RADOVAN KARADZIC and RATKO MLADIC; DUSKO SIKIRICA (Keraterm), GORAN JELISIC (Brcko).
2. Crimes against humanity, being prohibited acts (such as, among others, murder, rape, sexual assault, torture or persecution on political, racial, or religious grounds) committed in armed conflict, international or national in character, and as a part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population. Indicted for crimes against humanity are : all the accused in the indictments "Karadzic and Mladic", "Sikirica and others"(Keraterm), "Miljkovic and others" (Bosanski Samac), "Jelisic and Cesic"(Brcko).
3. Violations of the laws or customs of war, against persons who took no active part in the hostilities, in particular violence to life and person, murder, rape and sexual assault, cruel treatment and torture, as well as outrages upon personal dignity (in particular humiliating and degrading treatment).
Indicted for violations of the laws or customs of war are : all the accused in all indictments.
4. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war, including forcible sexual intercourse. Indicted for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 are : all the accused in the indictments "Karadzic and Mladic", "Sikirica and others" (Keraterm), "Miljkovic and others" (Bosanski Samac), "Jelisic and Cesic" (Brcko).
THE FACTS
The following details appear from the indictments:
MARTIC INDICTMENT
In retaliation for the attack on 1 May 1995 by the Croatian Army upon the area held by the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina in Western Slavonia, orders were given by MILAN MARTIC , president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina, to attack three Croatian cities, including Zagreb.
On 2 May 1995 and on 3 May 1995, Orkan rockets fitted with "cluster-bomb" warheads were fired into the central part of Zagreb, causing at least five civilian deaths (on May 2) and two civilian deaths (on May 3), and injuries to numerous civilians.
MILAN MARTIC is charged with violations of the laws or customs of war.
***
KARADZIC AND MLADIC INDICTMENT
1. CRIMES PERPETRATED AGAINST THE CIVILIAN POPULATION AND AGAINST PLACES OF WORSHIP.
RADOVAN KARADZIC and RATKO MLADIC, individually or in concert with others, planned, instigated, ordered or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation, execution of the persecutions on political and religious grounds of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians, or knew or had reason to know that subordinates were about to do the same or had done so, and failed to take the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or to punish the perpetrators thereof.
They committed the following crimes:
A. Genocide and crimes against humanity
The acts and omissions involved were not justified by military necessity and are related to:
- the internment of thousands of Bosnian Muslim and Croat in detention facilities where they were subjected to widespread acts of physical and psychological abuse and to inhumane conditions. Examples are the Omarska, Keraterm, Luka and Susica camps, which were staffed and operated by military and police personnel and their agents under the control of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. Detention facility personnel killed detainees, seriously injured them and deliberately imposed upon them conditions intended to bring about their physical destruction. Detainees were repeatedly subjected to and/or witnessed inhumane acts, including murders, rapes and sexual assaults, tortures, beatings, robberies, as well as other forms of mental and physical abuse. In many instances, women and girls who were detained were raped at the camps or were taken from the detention centres and raped or otherwise sexually abused at other locations.
- the targeting of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat communities, and in particular their political leaders, intellectuals and professionals.
- the deportation of thousands of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians from the areas of Vlasenica, Prijedor, Bosanski Samac, Brcko and Foca, including women, children, and elderly persons who were taken directly from their homes.
- the shelling of civilian gatherings in Sarajevo (1992,1993,1994), Srebenica (1993), and Tuzla (1995) in order to kill, terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilian population.
- the appropriation and plunder of real and personal property of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians.
- the persecution of civilians, including the systematic destruction of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat homes and businesses in order to insure that the inhabitants could not and would not return to their homes and communities.
- the systematic damaging and/or destruction of sacred sites, both Muslim and Roman Catholic.
B. War crimes and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions
The acts and omissions involved are :
- the unlawful confinement of civilians in detention facilities, and outrages upon the personal dignity of the detainees.
- the deliberate attacks on the civilian population
- the destruction or wilful damage to religious institutions
- the extensive destruction of property
- the appropriation and plunder of public and private property.
2. SARAJEVO SNIPING CAMPAIGN.
Throughout the siege of Sarajevo there has been a systematic campaign of deliberate targetting of civilians by snipers of the Bosnian Serb military, and their agents. Since April 1992, a substantial number of civilians have been killed and wounded.
The deliberate attack on the civilian population is a violation of the laws or customs of war.
The killing and the wounding by sniper fire on these civilians is a crime against humanity.
3. UN HOSTAGES AND HUMAN SHIELDS.
Between 26 May 1995 and 2 June 1995, Bosnian Serb military personnel under the direction and control of RADOVAN KARADZIC and RATKO MLADIC seized 284 UN-peacekeepers in many locations, and between 26 May and 19 June 1995, they selected certain UN-hostages for use as "human shields".
RADOVAN KARADZIC and RATKO MLADIC are charged with violations of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
SIKIRICA AND OTHERS INDICTMENT
(Keraterm camp)
From about 24 May to about 30 August 1992, Serb forces unlawfully seized and confined more than 3000 Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from the Prijedor district (Northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina) in inhuman conditions, under armed guard, in the Keraterm "camp", located in a former ceramics factory and in a storage area located just outside the town of Prijedor. Detainees were killed, sexually assaulted, tortured, beaten and otherwise subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment.
On a regular basis, camp guards and others who came to the camp subjected the detainees to physical violence, constant humiliation, degradation, inhuman conditions and fear of death. Hundreds of detainees were killed. Severe beatings were commonplace.
One count charges that some of the accused were involved in the firing of machine guns and heavy calibre guns into a room filled with at least 140 detainees who all died.
The commander of the camp, DUSKO SIKIRICA, is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
DUSKO SIKIRICA and the three shift commanders of the guards, DAMIR DOSEN, DRAGAN FUSTAR, and DRAGAN KULUNDZJIA, are responsible for the crimes committed by their subordinates and others subject to their authority: killing of Keraterm camp detainees, their torture, wilfully causing them great suffering and the commission of outrages upon their personal dignity.
The individual criminal responsibility of DAMIR DOSEN, DRAGAN KULUNDZJIA and DRAGAN FUSTAR relate to numerous killings and assaults. They are charged with crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
The camp guards NENAD BANOVIC, PREDRAG BANOVIC, GORAN LAJIC and DRAGAN KONDIC, are accused of killing, severely beating and torturing numerous detainees.
NIKICA JANJIC, DUSAN KNEZEVIC, DRAGOMIR SAPONJA, NEDJELJKO TIMARAC and ZORAN ZIGIC frequently entered the camp to kill, beat or otherwise abuse detainees.
They are all charged with crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Genava Conventions.
MILJKOVIC AND OTHERS INDICTMENT
(Bosanski Samac)
Another indictment made public today charges six persons with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war and crimes against humanity as a result of their activities, beginning in April 1992, in Bosanski Samac, a town and municipality located at the northwestern edge of the "Posavina Corridor" in northern Bosnia.
The indictment charges that in 1991, almost 17,000 Bosnian Croats and Muslims, of a total population of about 33,000, lived in Bosanski Samac municipality. By May 1995, fewer than 300 of the Bosnian Croat and Muslim residents remained. The indictment charges that the six accused are among those responsible for co-ordinating and carrying out a campaign of terror that created an atmosphere of fear and oppression among the non-Serb population, leading most of them to flee the area.
After a military takeover, non-Serb civilians were rounded up, and the men were separated from women and children and taken to detention centres where some were killed and many were subjected to beatings and humiliation. Eventually, those detained, along with many others, were forced to leave the area in so-called "prisoner exchanges", conducted in violation of accepted international standards.
The persons accused represented some of the senior political leadership in Bosanski Samac, including BLAGOJE SIMIC, the president of the local Serbian Democratic party, who was also the Deputy of the regional Bosnian Serb assembly and chairman of the local assembly; STEVAN TODOROVIC, the chief of police; and SIMO ZARIC, organizer and leader of a local military force. The indictment contains 56 separate charges, and describes numerous beatings and killings, as well as forced deportation and transfer and instances of sexual assault and torture, for which it seeks to hold the accused criminally responsible.
Involved in mass-killings, in three cases of individual murders and in seven cases of beatings, SLOBODAN MILJKOVIC is charged with crimes against humanity, violations of laws or customs of war and with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
BLAGOJE SIMIC, who was the highest ranking civilian official in the Serb-controlled municipality of Bosanski Samac, is responsible for the crimes committed by the newly-appointed Serb Chief-of-Police, STEVAN TODOROVIC.
STEVAN TODOROVIC is accused of one killing, five beatings, one sexual assault, and one case of torture. He is charged with crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
MILAN SIMIC faces the same charges for one case of beating.
As to MIROSLAV TADIC and SIMO ZARIC, they are charged with crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions for the unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of hundreds of Bosnian Croat and Muslim residents, including women, children and the elderly, from their homes in the Bosanski Samac municipality.
JELISIC AND CESIC INDICTMENT
(Brcko)
The fifth indictment made public today charges two persons with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war and crimes against humanity for their actions in Brcko, a town and municipality also located in the "Posavina Corridor" in northern Bosnia. One of them, GORAN JELISIC, is also charged with genocide.
The indictment charges that GORAN JELISIC, as one of the commanders responsible for running Luka camp, a detention camp in Brcko where hundreds of men, and a few women, were detained after Serb forces took over control of Brcko in april 1992, deliberately killed numerous Muslim detainees as part of a campaign to rid the area of Muslims. According to the indictment, GORAN JELISIC referred to himself as the "Serb Adolf", said that he had come to Brcko to kill Muslims, and often informed the Muslim detainees and others of the number of Muslims he had killed.
GORAN JELISIC is accused of 16 murders, 4 beatings and at least 4 cases of plunder of property. He is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and with grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
The other accused, RANKO CESIC, is charged with participating in several killings and beatings at Luka camp. According to the indicment, Luka camp was in operation from May to July 1992, during which time hundreds of Muslim and Croat civilians were killed there.
RANKO CESIC is accused of 13 murders and one case of sexual assault. He is charged with crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
*****
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
For more information, please contact our Media Office in The Hague
Tel.: +31-70-512-8752; 512-5343; 512-5356 Fax: +31-70-512-5355 - Email: press [at] icty.org