Bosnian Prosecutors Indict Man For Crimes Against Humanity

Foca was a focal point for the mass persecution and killing of Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces.

The Prosecutor-General's Office of Bosnia-Herzegovina says it has filed an indictment against Novica Tripkovic for crimes against humanity in the eastern town of Foca during the 1992-95 Bosnian War.

"The accused is charged with committing the war crimes of raping two Bosniak victims captured and illegally detained in the Foca area as part of a widespread and systematic attack by military, paramilitary, and police forces of the Republika Srpska Army against the Bosniak civilian population in the Foca municipality," the Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement on December 27.

The indictment has been forwarded to the State Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina for confirmation, it added.

The announcement comes amid a series of arrests for war crimes by the Investigation and Protection Agency of Bosnia-Herzegovina (SIPA).

Bosnia's declaration of independence in 1992 helped spark the 1992-95 conflict that left almost 100,000 people dead and displaced more than 2 million.

As part of a campaign of intimidation and ethnic cleansing during the war, thousands of women and girls were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence by military and paramilitary groups.

Foca was a focal point for the mass persecution and killing of Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces, who were seeking to establish an exclusively ethnic Serb region. These forces set up detention camps in which women and young girls were raped and enslaved.