SARAJEVO, February 19 (FENA) - Former Bosnian Serb soldier Miroslav Marković went on trial for the detention, abuse and murder of civilians after a convoy of fleeing Bosniaks was intercepted in the village of Lokanj near Zvornik in 1992.
The trial of Miroslav Marković, who is accused of involvement in the detention and subsequent killing of dozens of Bosniak civilians, began at the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo on Monday.
He is accused of committing the crimes as a member of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Lokanj Company as part of a widespread and systematic attack by the Bosnian Serb Army and police on the non-Serb population of the Zvornik area, BIRN reports.
Prosecutor Olivera Đurić said that a convoy of more than 120 Bosniak civilians, including women and children, who were unarmed and represented “no military threat”, left the town of Teočak on July 14, 1992.
She said the progress of the convoy was detected and the civilians’ capture was planned in advance. According to the charges, members of the Lokanj Company and police from Ugljevik seized 86 civilians.
Marković has been charged with abusing a group of civilians and forcing them to fight each other following their capture.
The civilians were transferred to the Lokanj Company’s command post, then Marković and others allegedly took a small group of captives to Vidrovine, where they were killed.
The indictment also alleges that Marković, with other members of the Lokanj Company and police from Ugljevik, took a larger group of civilians away, forced three captives to dig a hole, then shot a total of 67 of them in groups.
Eight other defendants have also been on trial for the same crimes in a separate case since March 2015.
The first prosecution witnesses will be examined on March 11.
(FENA) S. R.