Criminal charges have been filed and measures have been taken to search for two men suspected of committing war crimes against prisoners of war in 1991 in Bilje,the Osijek-Baranja Police Department said in a press release.

The suspects are two members of the so-called “Special Unit of the Police Department of Beli Manastir,” who were found to have physically abused and eventually killed five members of the National Guard.

The suspects were identified based on a criminal investigation of the events of September 3, 1991, during the armed aggression by Serbian paramilitary formations in Bilje.

The criminal investigation was completed by the War Crimes Department of the Osijek-Baranja Police Department, in cooperation with the Security and Intelligence Agency. The investigation established that on the specified date, members of the so-called “Special Unit of the Police Department of Beli Manastir,” along with other members of paramilitary formations of rebellious Serbs, attacked Bilje from the direction of Darda.

It was also determined that during this attack, in present-day Ivana Mazuranica Street, they captured five members of the National Guard (born in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1962). After the capture, two members of the mentioned unit, aged 58 and 60, severely physically abused them and eventually killed them.

Criminal charges have been filed against the two suspects with the County State’s Attorney Office in Osijek for the criminal offense of “war crime against prisoners of war.”

Search measures have been undertaken for the suspects as they are currently unavailable to Croatian law enforcement authorities.