The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested long-term prison sentences for 11 former members of the military and police forces of Republika Srpska, accused of crimes against humanity in Bosanski Novi in 1992.
In its closing statement, the prosecution assessed that it had proved that Ranko Balaban, Rajko Karlica, Milenko Brčin, Mirko Odžić, Milenko Babić, Ratko Goronja, Nikola Reljić, Dragan Baltić, Ranko Baltić, Miroslav Kapetanović and Ranko Grab participated in the murder of 24 people, as and the forced relocation of the Bosniak population from the villages of Alići and Ekići.
“You heard the eyewitnesses – the victims of what happened on June 22, 1992 and the eyewitnesses who participated in the commission of the crime with the accused,” said prosecutor Eldina Biuk.
She pointed to the testimonies of Dragan Balaban and Stojan and Zoran Kenjal, who were previously sentenced to seven and five years in prison after a plea agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office.
“Those witnesses were ready to confess publicly, they came and told the truth,” Biuk said, adding that there is no doubt in their statements because they are supported by other evidence.
The prosecutor stated that the Bosniak population lived in Alići and Ekići with promises from their Serbian neighbors that nothing would happen to them, even though other Bosniaks had left the Japra valley. She said that after the funeral of a Serbian soldier, they started discussing the expulsion of Bosniaks from Alić and Ekić.
Biuk stated that all the accused came to the gathering place, and that they chased out all the locals from Alić and Ekić and took them to the Orthodox cemetery, which was witnessed by Balaban and Kenjala, as well as the women of the village.
The witnesses, she added, spoke about men being mistreated and women and children being taken away in trucks.
“The injured witnesses said that all the men stayed at the cemetery and that they have never seen them since then,” Biuk reminded.
She added that Dragan Balaban and Stojan and Zoran Kenjalo told how the accused, who were accompanied by women and children, returned and how the men were taken to the Muslim cemetery and ordered to dig up the grave, and Milenko Karlica ordered them to stop.
“Everyone was shooting. They killed 24 civilians,” said Biuk, recalling witness statements.
She added that the three former comrades-in-arms who were accused later took part in moving the bodies and throwing them into the Japra river. She stated that only parts of the remains were found in the cemetery and at the mouth of the river.
The prosecutor rejected the claims of the Defense that Balaban and Kenjala and some other persons, who have since passed away, participated in the murders, and that the accused came that day to help in the execution of civilians. According to her, such theses are illogical and contradictory.
Biuk asked for long-term prison sentences due to the severity and manner of the crime, the fact that it involved neighbors who knew each other and the throwing of bodies into the river, as well as the family members who lost their loved ones.
The closing arguments of the defense are planned for August 30, reports BIRN.
