Bosnian Mayor’s Long-Delayed War Crimes Trial to Begin

The mayor of Vlasenica, Miroslav Kraljevic, will go on trial in Sarajevo next month with co-defendants Radenko Stanic and Goran Garic for the persecution of Bosniak civilians during the war in 1992 and 1993, it was announced on Wednesday.

The three men - all former police officers - are charged with unlawful imprisonment, murder, torture, sexual abuse and forced disappearances.

The trial will go ahead at the Bosnian state court after the case against a fourth defendant, Mane Djuric, was separated from the others.

The start of the trial, which was originally set for June 2018, has been repeatedly postponed due to Djuric's medical condition.

The delays angered war victims' families in the area.

Nedim Salaharevic, who saw his brother, Edin, being killed in Vlasenica during the war, told BIRN in April that he had been waiting for justice for years.

"Djuric and Kraljevic were rulers of life and death in Vlasenica. I saw it with my own eyes," he alleged.

The trial will now open on October 2, the Bosnian state court said on Wednesday.