Drago Nikolic Transferred to ICTY Detention Unit

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Today, Thursday 17 March, 2005, Drago Nikolic arrived at the Detention Unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Background

On 6 September 2002, Judge Wolfgang Schomburg confirmed the Indictment against Drago Nikolic. The Indictment was kept under seal until 21 October 2002, when Judge Schomburg unsealed it and made the warrants for his arrest and surrender public.
Drago Nikolic was born in November 1957 in Brana Bacic in the Municipality of Bratunac. During the attack on the Srebrenica enclave by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995, and the subsequent killings and executions of Bosnian Muslim men, Drago Nikolic was a 2nd Lieutenant and served as Chief of Security of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) First Light Infantry Brigade in Zvornik (Zvornik Brigade).

Factual allegations

In the several days following the attack on Srebrenica, the VRS forces captured, detained, summarily executed, and buried more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from the Srebrenica enclave, and forcibly transferred the Bosnian Muslim women and children out of the enclave. According to the Indictment, Drago Nikolic committed, planned, instigated, ordered and otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation and execution of the charged crimes.

It is alleged that Drago Nikolic, together with other VRS and Ministry of the Interior ("MUP") officers and units as identified in this Indictment, was a member of and knowingly participated in a Joint Criminal Enterprise, the common purpose of which was, inter alia: to forcibly transfer the women and children from the Srebrenica enclave to Kladanj on 12 July and 13 July 1995; and to capture, detain, summarily execute by firing squad, bury, and rebury thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys aged 16 to 60 from the Srebrenica enclave from 12 July 1995 until and about 19 July 1995. The implementation of this Joint Criminal Enterprise resulted in the summary execution of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.

The Charges

The Indictment charges Drago Nikolic on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) with:

One count of genocide (Article 4 of the Statute – genocide; alternatively, complicity to commit genocide), Three counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 of the Statute – extermination, murder, persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds), and One count of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 of the Statute – murder).

A date for the initial appearance will be announced in due course.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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