SPLIT, March 27 (Hina) - The Split County state prosecutor's office on Wednesday filed an indictment against eight former military police officers for war crimes committed against civilians in the Split military port of Lora in
1992.
SPLIT, March 27 (Hina) - The Split County state prosecutor's office
on Wednesday filed an indictment against eight former military
police officers for war crimes committed against civilians in the
Split military port of Lora in 1992.#L#
The Split County Court decided to extend detention for seven
officers. The eighth, Tomislav Duic, is still at large. The former
police have been in custody since Sept. 27.
Duic, Tonci Vrkic, Miljenko Bajic, Josip Bikic, Davor Banic,
Emilijo Bungur, Ante Gudic, and Andjelko Botic are charged with
harassing to death two civilian Croatian Serb prisoners, Gojko
Bulovic from Split and Nenad Knezevic from Kastele. They are also
accused of inflicting serious physical injuries to another two
Croatian Serb civilian prisoners, Milosav Katalina and Djordje
Katic from Split, and of lightly injuring several other civilians.
The charges refer to the period between March and September 1992.
The indictment says that all civilians brought to the Lora prison
had been arrested without legal grounds.
At the time of the crimes the indictees were members of the military
police. Duic, Vrkic, Banic, and Botic are still active officers.
Around 30 witnesses were interviewed. Another 20 gave statements at
a Belgrade court. They will be further questioned at the main
hearing in Split.
Detention will be extended every two months for the next two years,
by which time a possible verdict should become final. The maximum
sentence is 20 years in prison.
The indictees were arrested last year on charges filed by the
Interior Ministry's military police department and the Split-
Dalmatia County police department.
The defence has announced it will appeal against the indictment.
(hina) ha