Mario Mazic of the Initiative told reporters the charges were based on witness testimonies and that a list of witnesses and victims was also submitted to State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic.
The Initiative and the Forum claim that on May 4, 1995 Croatian forces entered the Pakrac area, a then UN-protected zone in western Slavonia, where the day before Serb paramilitaries surrendered their weapons to UN peacekeepers, waiting for surrender to Croatian forces.
The Croatian forces then separated the women and the children and took over more than 500 men to Varazdin, where they forced them to stand with hands behind their backs. After giving them a cold shower, they took them to examinations during which police and members of other forces mentally abused, tortured and beat them. After spending some time in Varazdin, most of the men were taken to Bjelovar for a court martial, where they were accused of armed rebellion, before being amnestied and returned to Pakrac, the two associations claim.