The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia, pursuant to her authority under Article 18 of the Statute
of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ("the
Statute of the Tribunal"), charges:
THE ACCUSED
- Zeljko MEAKIC, also known by the last name of "Meagic" and "Mejakic",
was born on 2 August 1964 in Petrov Gaj, Prijedor Municipality, Bosnia
and Herzegovina. He was a police officer and the Commander of the Omarska
Police Station prior to the conflict. He was the Commander of the Omarska
Camp.
- Momcilo GRUBAN, also known as "Ckalja", "Momo" and "Momir", was born
on 19 June 1961 in the village of Maricka, Prijedor Municipality, Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Prior to the conflict he was a reserve policeman who had been
called to perform full time duty at the Omarska camp. He was a guard shift
commander at the Omarska camp who supervised one of the three shifts of guards
that operated within the camp.
- Dusan FUSTAR, was born on 29 June 1954 in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Prior to the conflict he worked as a mechanic at Autotransport Prijedor. He
was a guard shift commander at the Keraterm camp who supervised one of the
three shifts of guards that operated within the camp.
- Predrag BANOVIC, also known as "Cupo", was born on 28 October
1969 in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prior to the conflict he worked
as a waiter. He regularly performed duties as a guard at the Keraterm camp.
- Dusko KNEZEVIC also known as "Duca" and "Dusan", was
born on 17 June 1967 in Orlovci, Prijedor municipality, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Prior to the conflict he worked as a waiter. He did not appear to hold an
official position in either the Keraterm or the Omarska camp, but he had sufficient
authority to be able to enter and leave the camps at will.
GENERAL ALLEGATIONS
- At all times relevant to this Indictment, a state of armed conflict existed
in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- All acts and omissions charged as Crimes Against Humanity, were part of
a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population,
specifically the Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat or other non Serb civilian
populations of the Prijedor municipality.
- Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN, Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC and
Dusko KNEZEVIC were required to abide by the laws and customs governing
the conduct of armed conflicts, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and
the additional protocols thereto.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
- The municipality (opstina) of Prijedor is located in northwestern Bosnia
and Herzegovina. According to the 1991 census, it had a total population of
112,543: 49,351 (43.9%) identified themselves as Muslims; 47,581 (42.3%) identified
themselves as Serbs; 6,316 (5.6%) identified themselves as Croats; 6,459 (5.7%)
identified themselves as Yugoslavs; and 2,836 (2.5%) were identified as other
nationalities.
- During the early morning hours of 30 April 1992, Bosnian Serb police and
army forces seized physical control of the town of Prijedor. The take-over
initiated a series of events organised and directed first by the Crisis Staff
and later by the Serbian Municipal Assembly. By the end of 1992, these events
would result in the death or forced departure of most of the non-Serb population
of Prijedor Municipality.
- Following the forcible take-over of Prijedor, the Crisis Staff imposed
severe restrictions on all aspects of life for non-Serbs, principally Bosnian
Muslims and Bosnian Croats, including movement and employment. The effect
of those restrictions was the containment of non-Serbs in villages and areas
in the municipality where they lived. Beginning in late May 1992, those areas
were then subjected to violent, large-scale attacks by the army of the Serbian
Republic (VRS), paramilitary, territorial defence, police units and civilians
armed by these forces. Many of the Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats who
survived the initial artillery and infantry attacks were arrested by the Bosnian
Serb forces and transferred to detention facilities established and operated
under the direction of the Crisis Staff.
- Between May and August 1992, Bosnian Serb authorities in the Prijedor municipality
unlawfully segregated, detained and confined more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslims,
Bosnian Croats and other non-Serbs from the Prijedor area in the Keraterm,
Omarska and Trnopolje camps.
- The Omarska camp was located in a former mining complex in the village
of Omarska, approximately 20-25 kilometres from the town of Prijedor. The
detainees included military-aged males and political, economic, social, and
intellectual leaders of the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat population. There
were about 37 women detained in the camp.
- The Keraterm camp was located on the site of a ceramics factory located
on the "new" Prijedor-Banja Luka road, just outside the centre of
the town of Prijedor. At the Keraterm camp, the majority of the detainees
were military-aged males.
- Interrogations were conducted on a daily basis at the Omarska and Keraterm
camps. The interrogations were frequently accompanied by beatings. Severe
beatings, killings as well as other forms of physical and psychological abuse,
including sexual assualt, were commonplace at the Omarska and Keraterm camps.
The camp guards and frequent visitors 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
and mistreatment which often resulted in death. At a minimum, hundreds of
detainees, whose identities are known and unknown, did not survive.
- In addition, Omarska and Keraterm camps also operated in a manner designed
to discriminate and subjugate the non-Serbs by inhumane acts and cruel treatment.
These acts included the brutal living conditions imposed on the prisoners.
There was a deliberate policy of overcrowding and lack of basic necessities
of life, including inadequate food, polluted water, insufficient or non-existent
medical care and unhygienic and cramped conditions. The prisoners all suffered
serious psychological and physical deterioration and were in a state of constant
fear.
- After the existence of the Omarska and Keraterm camps became known to the
international community, the Bosnian Serb authorities closed the two camps
in August 1992, and transferred survivors to remaining facilities, including
Trnopolje camp, in Prijedor Municipality and to Manjaca camp in the Banja
Luka Municipality. From those facilities, almost all of the survivors were
eventually forcibly transferred or deported from the area.
INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
Article 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal
- Zeljko MEAKIC, MOMCILO GRUBAN, Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC
and Dusko KNEZEVIC, are individually criminally responsible pursuant
to Article 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal for the crimes referred to
in Articles 3 and 5 of the Statute of the Tribunal as alleged in this Indictment,
which crimes they planned, instigated, ordered, committed or in whose planning,
preparation, or execution they otherwise aided and abetted. By using the word
"committed" in the Indictment, the Prosecutor also includes acts
that the accused allegedly committed, by participating in a joint criminal
enterprise as co-perpetrators and/or aiders and abettors.
- The Prijedor Crisis Staff set up the Omarska and Keraterm camps in order
to carry out a part of the overall objective of the joint criminal enterprise
of the Bosnian Serb leadership, namely the permanent forcible removal of Bosnian
Muslim, Bosnian Croat or other non-Serb inhabitants from the territory of
the planned Serbian State in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the commission
of crimes, including those alleged in Counts 1 to 5 of the Indictment. In
furtherance of this objective, between 24 May 1992 and 30 August 1992, the
Keraterm and Omarska camps were operated in a manner designed to ill-treat
and persecute non-Serbs from Prijedor and other areas as a means to rid the
territory of or to subjugate non-Serbs. The participation of the accused in
the joint criminal enterprise was limited to their activities within the two
camps.
- The crimes enumerated in all the counts of this Indictment were within
the object of the joint criminal enterprise which operated within the Keraterm
and Omarska camps and Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN, Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag
BANOVIC and Dusko KNEZEVIC each had the state of mind necessary
for the commission of each of these crimes. Alternatively, such crimes as
were not within the object of the joint criminal enterprise, were the natural
and foreseeable consequence of the execution of the joint criminal enterprise
and each of the accused were aware that these crimes were the possible consequence
of the execution of the joint criminal enterprise.
- Numerous individuals, including Miroslav Kvocka, Milojica Kos, Mlado Radic,
Zoran Zigic, Dragoljub Prcac, Dusko Sikirica, Damir Dosen and Dragan Kolundzija,
participated in the joint criminal enterprise within the Omarska and Keraterm
camps. These participants, with the knowledge and intention to further the
system of ill-treatment and persecution and by the authority they exercised
within the camps, contributed in sustaining and furthering the objective of
the joint criminal enterprise. In particular;
(a) Within the Omarska camp, Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN
and Dusko KNEZEVIC are not only liable for the acts and/or omissions they
committed, but are also liable for the acts and/or omissions of each other
and other participants, more fully pleaded within Schedules A, B and E
to the Indictment and Paragraphs 15, 16, 24 to 26, 29, 31 and 33 of the Indictment.
(b) Within the Keraterm camp, Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC
and Dusko KNEZEVIC are not only liable for the acts and/or omissions
they committed, but are also liable for the acts and/or omissions of each
other and other participants, more fully pleaded within Schedules C, D
and F to the Indictment and Paragraphs 15, 16, 25, 26, 29, 31 and 33 of
the Indictment.
- Despite their awareness of the possible consequences, Zeljko MEAKIC,
Momcilo GRUBAN, Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC and Dusko KNEZEVIC knowingly
and wilfully participated in the joint criminal enterprise. On this basis,
they bear individual responsibility under Article 7(1) of the Statute of the
Tribunal, in addition to their responsibility under the same article for having
planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in
the planning, preparation or execution of the crimes pleaded within the Indictment.
Article 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal
- Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN and Dusan FUSTAR, while
holding positions of superior authority, are also individually criminally
responsible for the acts or omissions of their subordinates, pursuant to Article
7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal. A superior is responsible for the criminal
acts of his subordinates, if he knew or had reason to know that his subordinates
were about to commit such acts, or had done so, and the superior failed to
take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or to punish the
subordinates.
- Zeljko MEAKIC in his position of camp commander of the Omarska camp,
had effective control over the guard shift commanders, camp guards, and other
persons working within or frequently visiting the Omarska camp.
- Momcilo GRUBAN in his position as a guard shift commander in the
Omarska camp and Dusan FUSTAR in his position as a guard shift commander
in the Keraterm camp; had effective control over camp guards and other persons
working within or frequently visiting the respective camps.
- In addition, Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN and Dusan FUSTAR
had the authority and duty to alter the conditions of confinement that
existed in the Omarska or Keraterm camps during the times they were on duty
and in command. They had the authority and duty to control the conduct of
the guard shift commanders and/or guards assigned to their shifts and to prevent
or control the conduct of persons working within or frequently visiting the
respective camps. They had the authority and duty to grant the prisoners more
freedoms and rights within the camp, including access to potable water, reasonable
living conditions and hygienic standards, and contact with their families
or friends to receive clothing, hygienic supplies, food and medicines.
- Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN and Dusan FUSTAR knew
or had reason to know that all crimes alleged within the Indictment were about
to be committed or had been committed by their subordinates and they failed
to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or to punish
the perpetrators thereof. Each accused is therefore individually criminally
responsible under Article 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal.
THE CHARGES
- The facts pleaded in Paragraphs 1 to 27 of the Indictment are re-alleged
within this Part of the Indictment.
COUNT 1
(PERSECUTIONS)
- Between 24 May 1992 and 30 August 1992, Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN,
Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC and Dusko KNEZEVIC acting individually
and in concert with each other and other participants within the joint criminal
enterprise, planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and
abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of persecutions of Bosnian
Muslims, Bosnian Croats and other non-Serbs in the Omarska and Keraterm camp,
on political, racial or religious grounds. The persecutions included the:
(a) Murder, beatings and sexual assault of Bosnian Muslims,
Bosnian Croats and other non-Serbs detained in the Omarska and Keraterm camps;
referred to in Paragraphs 15 and 16 of the Indictment and Schedules A to
F attached to the Indictment;
(b) Confinement in inhumane conditions, harassment, humiliation
and psychological abuse of Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and other non-Serbs
in the Omarska and Keraterm camps; referred to in Paragraphs 15 and 16 of
the Indictment.
- By their involvement in these:
(a) Acts pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal,
Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN, Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC and
Dusko KNEZEVIC committed;
(b) Omissions pursuant to Article 7(3) of the Statute of
the Tribunal, Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN and Dusan FUSTAR committed:
Count 1: Persecutions on political, racial
or religious grounds, a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY, punishable under Articles
5(h), 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal.
COUNTS 2 to 3
(MURDER)
- Between 24 May 1992 and 30 August 1992, Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN,
Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC and Dusko KNEZEVIC acting individually
and in concert with each other and other participants within the joint criminal
enterprise, planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and
abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of murder, referred to in
Paragraph 29(a) of the Indictment.
- By their involvement in these:
(a) Acts pursuant to Article 7(1) of the Statute of the Tribunal,
Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN, Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC and
Dusko KNEZEVIC committed;
(b) Omissions pursuant to Article 7(3) of the Statute of
the Tribunal, Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN and Dusan FUSTAR committed:
Count 2: Murder, a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY,
punishable under Articles 5(a), 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal;
Count 3: Murder, a VIOLATION OF THE LAWS
OR CUSTOMS OF WAR, as recognised by Article 3(1)(a) of the Geneva Conventions
of 1949, punishable under Articles 3, 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the
Tribunal;
COUNTS 4 to 5
(INHUMANE ACTS and CRUEL TREATMENT)
- Between 24 May 1992 and 30 August 1992, Zeljko MEAKIC, Momcilo GRUBAN,
Dusan FUSTAR, Predrag BANOVIC and Dusko KNEZEVIC acting individually
and in concert with each other and other participants within the joint criminal
enterprise, planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and
abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of other inhumane acts and
cruel treatment, referred to in Paragraph 29(a)(b) of the Indictment.
- By their involvement in these: