The Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (DORH) on Wednesday requested the Zagreb court to launch an investigation and set detention for a former chief of the Serb-run concentration camp "Manjaca" near the northwestern Bosnian city of Banja Luka on suspicion that he was responsible for the torture of Croatian soldiers and police officer in 1991.
The DORH issued a statement on its web site about this request but it did not reveal the identity of the suspect. The statement only says that the suspect, a lieutenant-colonel in the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), was in charge of the notorious Manjaca concentration camp from September to the end of 1991.
The suspect is believed to have ordered to camp guards to physically and mentally abuse Croatian servicemen captured during the armed conflict between the Croatian armed forces and the JNA and Serb paramilitaries.
According to the statement, 350 Croatian POWs, kept in inhumane conditions, were tortured every day as a result of which one of them died on 1 November 1991.
The suspect is beyond the reach of Croatian authorities which is why the prosecutorial authorities demand that his arrest and detention be ordered.