| Press Release |
REGISTRY
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 9 November 2001
JL/P.I.S./633e
Arrest and Transfer of Nenad Banovic and Predrag Banovic.
On Thursday 8 November 2001, the Serbian authorities arrested Nenad Banovic and his twin brother Predrag Banovic in Serbia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Following their arrest, the two accused were transferred to the Detention Unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on Friday, 9 November 2001.
The original indictment was confirmed on 21 July 1995. The charges against five accused were withdrawn and a revised indictment was filed on 21 July 1998 against Dusko Sikirica, Damir Dosen, Dusan Fustar, Nenad Banovic, Predrag Banovic, Dusan Knezevic, Zoran Zigic and Dragan Kolundzija. Having voluntarily surrendered on 16 April 1998, Zoran Zigic was joined to the Kvocka & others case in an indictment dated 9 November 1998. The 21 July 1998 indictment was further amended on 24 August 1999 and on 3 January 2001.
According to the indictment, Nenad and Predrag Banovic (born on 28 October 1969 in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina) regularly performed duties as guards at the Keraterm camp and participated in abusing, beating, torturing and/or killing detainees in the camp.
The indictment states that, "Interrogations were conducted on a daily basis at the Keraterm camp. The interrogations were regularly accompanied by beatings and torture. Severe beatings, torture, killings, sexual assault, and other forms of physical and psychological abuse were commonplace at Keraterm camp. The camp guards and others who came to the camps used all types of weapons and instruments to beat and otherwise physically abuse the detainees. In particular, Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat political and civic leaders, intellectuals, the wealthy, and non-Serbs who were considered as extremists or to have resisted the Bosnian Serbs were especially subjected to beatings, torture, and/or killed. At a minimum, hundreds of detainees, whose identities are known and unknown, did not survive."
The indictment charges Nenad Banovic on the basis of individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) with:
Five counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 of the Statute - persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; inhumane acts; murder and torture),
Four counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 of the Statute - outrages upon
personal dignity; murder; torture and cruel treatment),
and charges Predrag Banovic on the basis of individual responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) with:
Thirteen counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 of the Statute - persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; inhumane acts; murder and torture),
Twelve counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 of the Statute - outrages upon personal dignity; murder; torture and cruel treatment).
The date and time for the initial appearance of Nenad and Predrag Banovic will be announced in due course.
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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