Prosecution looks to expand Zvornik case

Belgrade, July 12 (Source: B92) - War Crimes Prosecution has filed a request to investigate two more persons in connection with the Zvornik war crimes. A spokesman for the Belgrade-based prosecution told Beta the two are Kraljevo residents and are suspected of involvement in the 1992 war crimes committed in the Bosnian municipality during the war in that country.

The suspects, one of which has been detained while the other is on the run, were members of the Zvronik territorial defense and are believed to have taken part in inhuman treatment of Muslim prisoners in the Ekonomija and Ciglana locations. The prosecution claims they abused prisoners in the Ekomonija slaughterhouse and aided the murder of imprisoned civilians in Ciglana at the end of June 1992.

The Zvornik case was sent from the Hague to be conducted by the Belgrade Special War Crimes Court in Serbia, and the trial started on November 28, 2005. Six men were charged the forcible deportation of 1,822 Bosnian Muslims to Serbia and then Hungary. Those charged to date are the former President of Zvornik’s temporary administration Branko Grujić, former Territorial Defense Commander Branko Popović, and four members of a paramilitary unit known as the Žute Ose, or the Yellow Wasps.

Members of the Yellow Wasps are additionally charged with killing 22 and abusing 163 Bosnian Muslims in a detention center in the Zvornik suburb of Čelopek. All accused have denied the charges.

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