MOSTAR, March 15 (Hina) - The prosecutor's office in the northern Bosnian town of Bijeljina has issued indictments against 17 senior military and civil officials from the Bosnian Serb entity for violating the U.N. embargo on the
export of arms to Iraq and obstructing an investigation, the Bosnian Serb media reported on Friday.
MOSTAR, March 15 (Hina) - The prosecutor's office in the northern
Bosnian town of Bijeljina has issued indictments against 17 senior
military and civil officials from the Bosnian Serb entity for
violating the U.N. embargo on the export of arms to Iraq and
obstructing an investigation, the Bosnian Serb media reported on
Friday. #L#
The Bijeljina-based aviation institute "Orao" had sold Iraq parts
for the Russian-made MIG 21 jets and other military equipment.
The five highest military officials of Republika Srpska, who were
members of a commission which was to investigate allegations about
illegal arms trade with Iraq, are indicted for submitting a
falsified report to the Bosnian Serb defence minister.
The indicted include the Bosnian Serb army chief-of-staff, General
Momir Zec, a former defence minister, Nikola Delic, an assistant to
the defence minister, Colonel Zoran Cvjetkovic, a senior official
in the defence ministry's security department, Colonel Petar
Oceusanin, and the head of the Republika Srpska president's
military cabinet, Colonel Vlado Topic.
A group of six persons indicted for the gravest crime, the illegal
export of arms and military equipment, includes a former head of the
air force and anti-aircraft defence administration, Radoslav
Pandzic, and five more senior officials in Bijeljina's institute.
The seventeen accused also include six customs officers, mostly
customs inspectors, who are indicted for the abuse of office and
powers.
The Republika Srpska authorities had been ordered by the
international community to submit a new report on the investigation
into the arms scandal by March 17.
(hina) rml