Indictment Confirmed in Veljko Brajić and Others

01.04.2024, 13:35

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed, on 6 March 2024, an indictment in the case of Veljko Brajić and others, charging the accused Veljko Brajić, Slobodan Taranjac, Ranko Kaurin, Branko Dženopoljac and Draško Topić that, by the acts described in the indictment, they committed the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity under Article 172, all as read with Article 180 and Article 29 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The accused are charged that, during the period between early April 1992 and late September 1992, within a widespread and systematic attack of the police and Army of the Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, subsequently Republika Srpska, directed against the non-Serb civilian population of the Municipalities of Sanski Most and Prijedor, being aware of that attack and knowing that their acts formed a part of the attack and the plan of a joint criminal enterprise to persecute the Muslim and Croat population, Veljko Brajić, as the Chief of Staff of the 6th Sana Light Infantry Brigade, Slobodan Taranjac, as the President of the Crisis Staff of the MZ Ljubija and de facto Commander of the Ljubija Territorial Defense, Ranko Kaurin, as the acting commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Sana Light Infantry Brigade at the action time, Branko Dženopoljac, as the Commander of the 9th Battalion of the 6th Sana Light Infantry Brigade, and Draško Topić, armed and wearing a military uniform, launched an armed attack on the undefended Croat and Muslim civilian population, wherein civilians were killed, the survivors unlawfully deprived of liberty, imprisoned, tortured, sexually abused, raped, and thereupon taken to camps, and subjected to restricted movement, inhuman living conditions, torture and murder, while the remaining civilian population of the Briševo village and the surrounding settlements were expelled.