New War Crimes Trial Opens in Belgrade

A trial for crimes commited against Bosniaks in Prijedor in 1994 will open on February 18 in the war crimes chamber at the High Court in Belgrade.

In December last year, the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor in Serbia indicted Dusko Kesar, 46, for his role in the murder of three civilians in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian war.

At the time of the crime in March 1994 Kesar was a member of the reserve police force of the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska.

According to the indictment, in the night between March 30 and 31, Kesar, together with Drago Radakovic, Drasko Krndija and Rodoslav Knezevic, killed three civilians. Kesar allegedly threw a bomb at the house of Faruk Rizvic after which he and the three other defendants “subjected Faruk Rizvic, Refija Rizvic, and Fadil Mahmuljin to severe beatings which eventually killed the victims.”

Kesar was indicted in 2005 together with the three other men by the district court in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The final verdict was issued by the High Court of Republika Srpska in 2006 and Krnija, Radakovic and Knezevic were sentenced to a total of 50 years’ imprisonment.

Kesar is a dual Bosnian-Serbian citizen. He was living in Serbia at the time of the indictment, and was not extradited by Serbian authorities because of laws surrounding the extradition of persons holding the country’s citizenship.

The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor in Serbia was established on July 1, 2003.