Croatia To Investigate Serbian for Crimes Against Prisoners

The State Attorney's Office in Split said on Thursday that it will begin an investigation into an unnamed 72-year-old Serbian citizen accused of crimes against prisoners during the war in 1992 and 1993.

The suspect, who was the commander of an army brigade in the unrecognised Republic of Serbian Krajina wartime statelet, is suspected of not taking the necessary actions to prevent killings and violence by his subordinates from December 1992 to July 1993 in the Drnis, Ruzic and Promina mountain areas.

"His brigade members were encouraged by his attitude and behaviour and carried on with the war crimes," it said.

His subordinates were "systematically killing, beating, abusing, torturing and raping" the remaining Croatian population of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, the State Attorney's Office said.

They were also "ruining and destroying residential and commercial buildings and religious buildings", it added.

The town of Drnis, in the north-east of the Sibenik area, was attacked by Yugoslav People's Army and Republic of Serbian Krajina forces led by Ratko Mladic on September 16, 1991, and the town was then incorporated into the Serb-led statelet.

In Operation Storm in August 1995, Croatia's army recaptured the territory held by the Republic of Serbian Krajina.

The State Attorney's Office said the unnamed suspect has previously been convicted of war crimes against civilians in another case. However he is not in Croatia and therefore not available to the Croatian judicial authorities.

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