A monument to Croatian Defence Council fighters in Orasje. Photo: Sven Milekic/BIRN.

The Bosnian state prosecution on Friday indicted nine former Croatian Defence Council, HVO fighters for war crimes against “a large number” of Serb prisoners in Orasje in 1992 and 1993 – a case that has sparked protests by Bosnian Croats and strong reactions from officials in Zagreb.

The prosecution said that the men committed the crimes as members of the HVO’s military police and police, and as guards in detention centres at the High School Centre in Orasje and the Donja Mahala elementary school in the town.

“The accused are charged with having, during the performance of their duties under their authority, participated in the persecution of the Serb population from the Orasje area on national, ethnic, cultural and religious grounds,” the prosecution said in a statement.

The nine men charged are Djuro Matuzovic, Ivo Orsolic, Tado Orsolic, Marko Dominikovic, Joso Nedic, Marko Blazanovic, Mato Zivkovic, Ante Zivkovic and Stjepo Djuric.

They were arrested in October alongside a tenth man, Marko Baotic, who has not been indicted.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic vowed last month to help the men, who have both Croatian and Bosnian citizenship.

“The Croatian state will make sure that, after the victory in the Homeland [1990s] War, it supports Croatian defenders [war veterans], prevents attempts to revise historical events and protects Croatian national interests,” Plenkovic said.

Around 1,000 Bosnian Croat and Croatian war veterans and their supporters also expressed anger about the arrests of the men by demonstrating last month in front of the football stadium in Orasje.

The protesters insisted that Croats in Orasje only defended themselves and that their forces never acted outside the municipality while sustaining over 270 losses over four years of war.

They also demanded that what they described as politically-motivated investigations and arrests of local Croats must be stopped.

With the town populated by Bosniaks and surrounding villages predominantly populated by Croats, Croats and Bosniaks in Orasje fought against the Bosnian Serb Army together during the war to defend the municipality.

A symbol of their joint struggle can be seen in the town’s central park, where monuments to HVO and Bosniak fighters stand near to each other.

The indictment has been sent to the state court for confirmation.

Six more indictments raised

The Bosnian prosecution raised six further indictments on Friday, the first two charging former Bosnian Army servicemen with committing wartime crimes in Sarajevo.

The first indictment charges Elvir Muminovic, Samir Kesmer and Mirsad Menzilovic with raping a Serb woman in May 1993, while the second charges Senad Dzananovic, Edin Gadzo and Jasmin Erovic with abusing, raping and torturing Bosnian Serbs illegally detained in facilities in the Alpasino Polje neighborhood in the Bosnian capital.

Two indictments were raised for crimes in the northern Krajina region. One charges two former members of the Bosnian Serb Army, Mladjen Kovacevic and Bosko Devic, with killing six Bosniak civilians in Kljuc in August 1992, while the other charges nine ex-Bosnian Serb fighters with the illegal detention and killings of Bosniak civilians in Prijedor.

Slobodan Taranjac, Miodrag Glusac, Ranko Babic, Marinko Prastalo, Ranko Dosenovic, Zdravko Panic, Trivo and Milan Vukic and Rade Zekanovic have been charged with taking part in the illegal detention of around 120 Bosniaks at the Cultural Centre in Prijedor.

“Eleven victims were taken from this facility and killed. The rest were taken to a nearby stadium and abused. After this, they were taken to the village of Ljubija and killed,” said the Bosnian prosecution.

Another Bosnian Serb fighter, Nikola Savic, was charged with raping a Bosniak woman in Visegrad during wartime.

Finally, another Bosnian Croat ex-fighter was also charged with war crimes. The indictment alleges that Blazan Kljajic, a former commander of the 101 brigade of the Croatian Defence Council, took part in the illegal detention, abuse and killings of Serb civilians from March to August 1992.