JURIST - Paper Chase: Ex-police officer indicted for role in Srebrenica massacre

[JURIST] The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] on Thursday confirmed the indictment [press release, in Croatian] of a former police officer for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [JURIST news archive]. Bozidar Kuvelja was ordered into custody [press release, in Croatian] in January and has been charged with genocide. According to the indictment, Kuvelja was involved in a search in July 1995 to find Bosnian Muslims in the village of Potocari. Kuvjela and members of his police company allegedly took the individuals to a warehouse known as "the White House" and physically abused them. Kuvjela and others then killed more than a thousand men the next day and coerced survivors to exit the building with the promise of medical assistance. The men were executed when they exited the building, and Kuvjela allegedly took part in "verifying" whether each man was still alive and shot those who had survived. No hearing date has been scheduled.

Last month, French authorities arrested Milorad Momic [JURIST report] under an international arrest warrant for his suspected involvement in the massacre. Prosecutors believe that Momic is part of a Scorpion group that videotaped the murder of Bosnia Muslims near Srebrenica. Momic may be extradited to Serbia to face trial for crimes against humanity. In November, Dragan Crnogorac was arrested in Bosnia and Herzegovina [JURIST report] on suspicion of having committed genocide. Crnogorac was also a police officer who is alleged to have shot Bosnian Muslim men and boys.