Bosnia arrests five ex-Serb soldiers for 'roles' in Srebrenica genocide

Bosnian police have arrested five former Serb troops suspected of participating in the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica.

The suspects were arrested on Tuesday after an operation carried out in cities across the country by the members of the Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA).

In a statement, SIPA said that the operation was carried out on the instructions of the Prosecutor's Office and that apartments and property belonging to the former Serb soldiers were searched in the cities of Bileca, Sekovic, Han Pijesak, Vlasenica and Zvornik.

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked the eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

Srebrenica genocide

The Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, troops led by General Ratko Mladic, who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, overran the UN zone.

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing some 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.

Around 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people.

The bodies of victims have been found in 570 places across the country.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.

On June 8, 2021, UN tribunal judges upheld in a second-instance trial a verdict sentencing Mladic to life in prison for the genocide, persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination and other war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina.