Mrđa (IT-02-59) “Vlašić Mountain”

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Source: Mrđa (IT-02-59) “Vlašić Mountain”

Trial Judgment: 31 March 2004

Darko Mrđa, a member of the Prijedor police special unit called the “Intervention Squad,” stood trial for allegedly having participated in the murder and attempted murder of approximately 200 Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians on the Vlašić Mountain in August 1992 by shooting. The prosecution accused him of individual criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity for persecution, murder, and inhumane acts and violations of the laws or customs of war for murder and cruel treatment.

In 2004, the Trial Chamber accepted Mrđa’s guilty plea for crimes against humanity for persecution (on religious and political grounds, through murder, attempted murder, and inhumane treatment) and for violations of the laws or customs of war for cruel treatment, which the Trial Chamber considered as falling within the rubric of persecution as a crime against humanity. The Trial Chamber sentenced Mrđa to 17 years’ imprisonment.