The prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes filed an indictment against Brajić Veljko, born in 1953 in Krkojevci, Sanski Most, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Slobodan Taranjac, born in 1956 in Ljubija, Prijedor, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is being prosecuted for war crimes; Kaurin Ranka, born in 1950 in Prijedor, citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dženopolis Branko, born in 1941, in Svodna, Bosanski Novi, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Topić Draška, born in 1970 in Prijedor, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The accused are accused of having, during a wide and systematic attack directed at the civilian population of Bosniak and Croat nationality in the area of the municipalities of Sanski Most and Prijedor, acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of civilians during the war,” it is stated.
They are accused of having, at the end of July 1992, planned and participated in an armed artillery and infantry attack on the undefended village of Briševo and surrounding towns near Prijedlor, inhabited mainly by the civilian population of Croatian nationality. On that occasion, in just a few hours, 61 victims were killed, among whom the youngest was a 16-year-old boy, and the oldest victim was 81 years old, as well as one minor victim of Bosniak nationality.
Three people went missing and their remains have not been found to this day. During the attack, several victims were raped and sexually abused, and dozens of people, mostly men, were taken to illegal detention in Prijedor camps, and several victims died during transport, and at least three detainees brought from Briševo were killed in the Omarska camp.
During the attack, religious and civilian buildings were destroyed and set on fire. The surviving civilian population from the settlement of Briševo and other neighboring settlements was expelled and forcibly resettled from that area, about 350 civilians, and after the attack on the mentioned places, not a single resident of Croatian nationality remained living there. Even today, a small number of returnees live there.
“The bodies of a large number of victims were found, exhumed and identified mainly during 1997, 1998, and 2001,” it is emphasized.
The prosecution will prove the accusations by calling 143 witnesses. Of these, five witnesses who will testify with assigned protection measures, two experts, as well as by submitting more than 300 material evidence.
“The indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation,” announced the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
