The Court of BiH confirmed the indictment against former members of the Army of BiH for the deaths of children in Vitez

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the indictment against Mensud Keleštura and Hazim Jašarević, former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, charging them with the shelling in Vitez in 1993, when eight children were killed and five were wounded on a children's playground.

The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina charges Keleštura and Jašarević with war crimes against the civilian population during the conflict between the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) in the Vitez area, in central Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The indictment states that on June 10, 1993, they participated in an artillery attack on civilians in the suburban settlement of Podgradina.

Keleštura is accused of having, as commander of the 325th Mountain Brigade of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ordered the Brigade Artillery Group to attack civilians in Podgradina, a part of the city inhabited by a civilian Croat population.

According to the indictment, Keleštura ordered the attack, even though he was aware that it was carried out during a ceasefire and in a populated area, and that it could lead to civilian casualties.

Hazim Jašarević, commander of the Brigade Artillery Group, acted on the order through subordinate soldiers, who also knew that it was not a military target and that there could be consequences for the civilian population.

Members of that brigade, as alleged in the indictment, fired one 120 mm artillery mortar shell from the Podlazine location in the Vitez municipality.

The grenade fell on a children's playground, located between family houses.

The case of the suffering of children in Vitez was in the BiH Prosecutor's Office for about 20 years, where it was forwarded from the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Travnik.

The State Prosecutor's Office previously confirmed to RFE/RL that the investigation has been accelerated since the beginning of 2022, and that ballistics experts have been hired.

The indictment was filed on December 30, 2025.