Initial Appearance - Prlić et al. (part 1/3) - 6 April 2004

The Indictment, alleges that "from on or before 18 November 1991 to about April 1994 and thereafter, various persons established and participated in a joint criminal enterprise". The purpose of the joint criminal enterprise was to "politically and military subjugate, permanently remove and ethnically cleanse Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats who lived in areas on the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina which were claimed to be part of the "Croatian Community (and later Republic) of Herceg-Bosna", and to join these areas as part of a "Greater Croatia"". According to the Indictment, "the territorial ambition of the joint criminal enterprise was to establish a Croatian territory with the borders of the Croatian Banovina, a territorial entity that existed from 1939 to 1941". Allegedly, "it was part of the joint criminal enterprise to engineer the political and ethnic map of these areas so that they would be Croat-dominated, both politically and demographically".
According to the Indictment, numerous persons participated in this joint criminal enterprise. They included Franjo Tudjman, the President of the Republic of Croatia; Gojko Susak, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia; Janko Bobetko, a senior General in the Army of the Republic of Croatia; Mate Boban, President of the "Croatian Community (and Republic) of Herceg-Bosna", as well as the six charged in this Indictment.
The Indictment alleges that, as part of and in the course of the actions described in the Indictment, involving ethnic cleansing on a widespread and systematic basis, and in furtherance of the joint criminal enterprise, Jadranko Prlic, Milivoj Petkovic, Bruno Stojic and Slobodan Praljak, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic, together with other leaders and members of the "Herceg-Bosna"/HVO authorities and forces, engaged in:
Instigation and fomentation of political, ethnic or religious strife, division and hatred.
Use of force, intimidation and terror.
Appropriation and destruction of property.
Detention and imprisonment.
Forcible transfer and deportation.
Forced labour.
It is alleged that the "Herceg-Bosna"/HVO campaign of attacks and ethnic cleansing took place in the municipalities of Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuski, Stolac, Capljina and Vares. This included crimes allegedly committed in the villages of Sovici and Doljani, the Heliodrom and Vojno camps, and the Dretelj and Gabela District Military Prisons.
Prlic IA 6-4-04 1-ENG.mp4