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Atif Dudakovic in 2000. Photo: EPA PHOTO/FEHIM DEMIR.

The Bosnian state prosecution on Thursday charged Atif Dudakovic and 16 lower-ranking members of the Bosnian Army’s Fifth Corps with the murders of more than 300 people, the persecution and abuse of civilians and prisoners of war, as well as the destruction of 38 Serbian Orthodox churches and religious buildings.

They are accused of committing crimes against humanity in the municipalities of Bosanski Petrovac, Kljuc, Bosanska Krupa and Sanski Most, and war crimes against the civilian population in the municipalities of Bihac and Cazin.

“The defendants have been charged with committing the murders of more than 300 Serbs, most of whom were civilians, mainly elderly people, as well as soldiers who had either surrendered or had been captured, which means they were deprived of the ability to fight,” the prosecution said in a statement.

The prosecution said the bodies of some of the victims were found after the war and exhumed from several individual and mass graves, while the search for some of those who were killed is still ongoing.

Part of the indictment of Atif Dudakovic concerns war crimes against Bosniaks who were members and supporters of the National Defence force of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, a self-proclaimed Bosniak-led wartime breakaway statelet.

Dudakovic, a popular Bosniak military commander, commanded the Bihac enclave in north-west Bosnia during the war. After the conflict, he became the general commander of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s army.

His arrest in April this year sparked anger among Bosniak politicians and war veterans, but was praised by some Bosnian Serb politicians.

The other Bosnian Army Fifth Corps ex-soldiers who were indicted are Ekrem Dedic, Sanel Sabic, Ibrahim Siljedic, Safet Salihagic, Adis Zjakic, Hasan Ruznic, Redzep Zlojic, Samir Solakovic, Fatmir Muratovic, Muharem Alesevic, Husein Balagic, Ale Hodzic, Edin Domazet, Ejub Konjezic, Ibrahim Nadarevic and Said Mujic.

Read more:

General’s Arrest Sparks Anger and Praise in Bosnia

Former Bosnian General Dudakovic Arrested for War Crimes