[JURIST] The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] on Thursday confirmed [press release] that it had issued genocide charges against four former Bosnian Serb soldiers in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [JURIST news archive]. The indictment alleges that the four men, Franc Kos [case materials], Stanko Kojic, Vlastimir Golijan and Zoran Goronja, were all members of the 10th Sabotage Detachment in the army of Republika Srpska. They are accused of participating in the murder of more than 800 Bosnian Muslims during the massacre, in which a total of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed. In levying genocide charges, it is alleged that the men participated in the killings “with the aim of destroying, in whole or in part, the national, ethnic and religious group of [Bosnian Muslims].” Kos, the commander of the detachment, is alleged to have directed the other three to commit the crimes, and to hunt down those who attempted to escape. The first hearing in the case has not been scheduled.

Last month, the court convicted Marko Boskic [JURIST report] of committing crimes against humanity in the massacre. In June, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] convicted seven senior Bosnian Serb officials [JURIST report] of war crimes against Bosnian Muslims committed during the massacre. The ICTY trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [case materials; JURIST news archive] is still ongoing. Karadzic is the alleged mastermind behind the violence at Srebrenica. His trial resumed in April after the ICTY dismissed [JURIST report] Kardzic’s latest motion to delay court proceedings, in which he argued that there had been a violation of his right to a fair hearing because the court had rejected previous evidentiary challenges. Karadzic’s alleged co-conspirator, former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic [case materials; JURIST news archive] is still at large.