Milenko Karlica acquitted of forced displacement charges

The Higher Court in Belgrade has acquitted Milenko Karlica of charges involving the forced displacement of civilians from the villages of Maslovare, Alići, and Ekići in the Bosanski Novi municipality on June 22, 1992.

The court accepted Karlica’s testimony that he joined a group of approximately 20 people solely to disarm the local Muslim population following the death of a Serbian soldier, Radenko Baltić. The ruling stated that women and children were transported by tractor to the Urije settlement to protect them from danger.

The Humanitarian Law Center has criticized the verdict, stating it is unacceptable for the court to treat the forced movement of women and children—who had been separated from men and removed from their homes—as a rescue operation rather than a component of an attack and forced displacement of the Bosniak population.