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The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced on Thursday that it has confirmed the indictment of four members of the 7th Muslim Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes committed against Croat and Serb civilians held in the basement of the Music School in Zenica in 1993.
The indictment charges Nesib Talic, Jusuf Karalic, Nasid Delalic and Sabahudin Sarajlic. According to the indictment, the crimes were committed between January and late March 1993, when fighting was under way between the Croatian Defence Council and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Zenica area.
Croat and Serb civilians were unlawfully detained in the Zenica Music School, which served as a makeshift detention facility.
Nesib Talic, who was Assistant Commander for Security of the 7th Muslim Brigade, is accused of “failing to prevent the illegal detention and inhumane treatment of civilians by members of the brigade’s military police platoon between January and October 1993”, the indictment reads.
Prosecutors say Nesib Talic knew about the abuses, “including beatings that led to the death of one detainee and the killing of another during an escape attempt, but failed to inform his superiors or take measures to stop the crimes”. By his inaction, the indictment claims, he “contributed to unlawful detention, murder and inhumane treatment”.
Jusuf Karalic, as commander of the military police platoon, is charged with failing to prevent or punish crimes committed by his subordinates, despite knowing or having reason to know that they were systematically abducting and abusing civilians. His failure to act, prosecutors say, “created the impression that such conduct was allowed”.
Nasid Delalic and Sabahudin Sarajlic, members of the same military police unit, are accused of directly participating in the inhumane treatment of detained civilians, inflicting severe physical and psychological suffering.
The charges relate to violations of international humanitarian law and include unlawful detention, inhumane treatment and responsibility for deaths in custody. A BIRN investigation published in January 2023 revealed the names of the alleged perpetrators of crimes in Zenica that were not prosecuted, among whom were the four accused.
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