Genocide Trial Begins for Two Bosnian Serbs

Two Bosnian Serbs went on trial here before an international tribunal Wednesday, accused of masterminding the genocide of hundreds of Croats and Muslims during Bosnia-Herzegovina’s 1992-95 war.

Gen. Momir Talic and his political ally, Radislav Brdjanin, are charged with 12 counts of war crimes, including genocide. If found guilty, they could face life terms in a European prison.

Prosecutors accuse Talic, 59, and Brdjanin, 53, of responsibility for the torture, murder and expulsion of Croats and Muslims in northwestern Bosnia during the war.

The suspects took part in a “joint criminal enterprise,” which aimed to forcibly and permanently remove Muslims and Croats in order to create a Serbian state in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the indictment says.

“Muslims and Croats were object of the crimes for no other reason than that they were Muslims and Croats,” prosecutor Joanna Korner said in her opening statement.

Talic and Brdjanin both pleaded innocent to all counts. They have been in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia since 1999.

In April 1992, Talic was an army commander and Brdjanin was the president of the Bosnian Serb “crisis staff” for Krajina, which controlled 16 municipalities in northern Bosnia.

Brdjanin facilitated the ethnic cleansing of Bosanska Krajina “by securing all instruments of state power,” the indictment said, while Talic’s troops killed hundreds of unarmed Muslims and Croats.