Doboj

Fadila Huduti last saw her husband Bajrus at a police station in the town of Doboj in northern Bosnia on May 5, 1992, after the married couple were arrested at their house by Serb soldiers.

"By a cruel twist of fate, it happened on our 20th wedding anniversary. We got married on May 5, 1972," Huduti said.

The District Court in Doboj has confirmed an indictment charging Ante Pavic, a former military policeman with the Croatian Defence Council, the Bosnian Croat wartime force, with war crimes against civilians.

The verdict in their trial will be announced at the UN court in The Hague on Wednesday.

Activists from the Centre for Non-Violent Action have continued their campaign to put up memorial signs at unmarked wartime locations across Bosnia and Herzegovina by marking five buildings this month in Doboj, Odzak and Orasje where prisoners were detained during the 1990s conflict.

Activists from the Centre for Non-Violent Action said they installed temporary commemorative plaques this month in the Zenica, Doboj and Zepce areas of Bosnia as part of an ongoing campaign to push local authorities to create permanent memorials to war victims.

"Each time after a person had been taken out, I heard a volley of fire or a single shot," Salkic said.

He recalled that it was raining heavily when he approached the bridge, where he saw police officers in blue uniforms and soldiers in olive-grey Yugoslav People's Army uniforms, as well as members of a unit called the Red Berets.

Courts in the towns of Doboj and Sokolac have rejected requests to ban 16 associations whose titles contain the words 'Chetnik Movement' or 'Ravna Gora Movement', while three more courts in Bosnia's Serb-majority Republika Srpska entity are still considering requests to ban the associations, BIRN has learned.

The Bosnian state court announced on Friday that it has confirmed an indictment charging Zeljko Novakovic with committing crimes against humanity during attacks on several Bosniak-populated villages in the north-western Bosanski Novi area between early May and September 1992.

Sakib Mahmuljin (left) receives the award from Zenica-Doboj Canton premier Mirza Ganic. Photo: Zenica-Doboj Canton government.

Bruce Berton, head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, said on Friday that the Zenica-Doboj Canton's decision to honour war crimes defendant Sakib Mahmuljin shows disrespect for the victims.

Local authorities declared a state of emergency on Monday night in several northern Bosnian towns due to heavy rainfall.

In the towns of Bihac, Banja Luka, Sanski Most and Celinac, swollen rivers caused the collapse of bridges and cut road links, blocking access to remote villages.