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Konjic bridge. Photo: Wikimedia/InDoRoN.

A war crimes hearing in Sarajevo was postponed on Tuesday after ex-fighter Zdenko Grbavac fled to Croatia following his release from three months in custody, the state prosecution said.

Grbavac and 12 other suspects are charged with persecuting the Serb population in the Konjic area of Bosnia in 1992 and 1993 by murdering several dozen civilians, committing rape, torturing people and carrying out other inhumane acts.

The indictment alleges that they are also responsible for the unlawful detention of a large group of Serbs from the town of Konjic and surrounding villages.

Grbavac was arrested in December, as were the other indictees, Esad and Agan Ramic, Sefik Niksic, Adnan Alikadic, Mitko Pirkic, Redzo Balic, Hamed Lukomirko, Safaudin Cosic, Muhamed Cakic, Ismet Hebibovic, Almir Padalovic, Enes Jahic, Senadin Cibo, Zeljko Simunovic and Omer Boric.

According to the indictment, the men committed the crimes while they were commanders or serving members of the Bosnian Army, Territorial Defence forces, the Croatian Defence Council, the police and paramilitary groups.