Ex-Policeman Admits Role in ’92 Bosnia Massacre
Bosnian Serb Darko Mrdja, a former policeman, pleaded guilty Thursday to involvement in the August 1992 massacre of at least 228 non-Serb men on a Mt. Vlasic cliff in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The mass killing marked part of an early wave of “ethnic cleansing” in the 1992-95 Bosnian war as rebel Bosnian Serb forces clashed with Bosnian Croats and Muslims during the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Mrdja, a 36-year-old former metalworker, confessed in a plea bargain during a special hearing of the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague to taking part in the shootings by a Bosnian Serb police unit.
The Bosnian Muslim and Croat victims, who were told they would be released in a prisoner exchange, were driven from the Trnopolje detention camp to the cliff, where they were forced to kneel to be shot. A dozen men who tumbled or jumped down the cliff survived.
Prosecutors and the defense recommended a 15-to-20-year prison sentence, and Mrdja is expected to be sentenced later this year.
Mrdja had pleaded not guilty 13 months ago to three counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes but changed his plea to guilty on two counts -- murder and attempted murder -- as part of the deal.
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