SERBIAN SUSPECT CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE OVER BOSNIAN MUSLIMS IN THE ENCLAVE OF SREBRENICA

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina has filed an indictment against Bozidar Kuvelja, a former member of Jahorina Training Centre with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska charging him with genocide committed at Srebrenica in July 1995.

Kuvelja -- who goes by "Hercegovac" -- is charged with having participated in the shooting of more than one thousand Bosniak men and boys during the Srebrenica Genocide. To read more, please head to Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

The following is a press release from the Prosecutors Office of Bosnia-Herzegovina:

INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST BOŽIDAR KUVELJA (1971)

The BiH Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment against Božidar Kuvelja, charging him with the criminal offense of Genocide under Article 171, Subparagraph a) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in conjunction with Article 31 the same Code.

The Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes within the BiH Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment against Božidar Kuvelja aka "Hercegovac", born on September 29, 1971 in Čajniče, where he resides, a citizen of BiH.

The accused is charged with having, as a member of the RS MoI Training Center Jahorina, personally and directly, by firing from a M-84 machine gun in Farming Cooperative Kravica, participated in the shooting of more than a thousand captured Bosniak men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica, and with having participated in forcible collecting and transporting of the women, children and the elderly towards the territory controlled by the BiH Army.

The indictment alleges that the accused Kuvelja participated in the shooting of about 100 Bosniaks, who survived the initial execution by shooting in the Farming Cooperative Kravica, by misleading them with promise of medical assistance if they come out.

After the wounded survivors were taken out of the warehouse, the accused Kuvelja has allegedly, together with other people, carried out executions by shooting from a machinegun, and then, in order to ensure that there are no survivors left, fired individual shots to kill the victims showing signs of life.

The indictment also alleges that the accused has, as a member of the 1st Company of Jahorina Training Center, in the period from July 12 to July 14, 1995 participated in the search of Bosniak houses with the intent to collect and transfer the Bosniak population to the UN base in Potočari. He is charged with having participated in the forcible separation of men from their families, as well as transporting of the women, children and elderly from Potočari to the territory under control of the BiH Army.

The accused Božidar Kuvelja is charged with killings and forcible transfer of Bosniaks by which he helped to destroy, in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, thereby committing the criminal offense of Genocide under Article 171, Subparagraph a) of the CC BiH, in conjunction with Article 31 the same Code.

The accused is in custody.

The indictment was forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.

*Note on the principle of presumption of innocence
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Dear Media Representatives, when transmitting news please bear in mind that persons referred to in the news and information of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, have the status of a suspect or an accused person. Let us remind you of the principle of presumption of innocence, which defines that no person shall be considered guilty until his/her guilt has been established by a final verdict.  http://www.tuzilastvobih.gov.ba/?id=920&jezik=e
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