Omarska camp
Coordinates: 44 ° 52 ′ 9 ″ N , 16 ° 52 ′ 58 ″ E
The Omarska prison camp was located in Omarska , a mining town near Prijedor in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Bosnian War . The camp, in which fighters of the Republika Srpska (RS) held between 5,000 and 7,000 (mostly) Bosniaks and Croats from the Prijedor area, existed from May 25 to around August 30, 1992.
The official Serbian name was: assembly camp and investigation camp to hold suspicious "paramilitaries" prisoner. According to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), prisoners were murdered , tortured , massacred and raped at this location .
There are different figures about the number of people murdered in this camp. The organizations Human Rights Watch and the UNHCR assume the number of deaths between 4,000 and 5,000 people who were either systematically killed in the camp or whose death was approved. After the war ended, 773 bodies were discovered in two mass graves nearby . In the meantime 62 mass graves have been discovered in the area around Prijedor, which could be connected with the camp. Testimony from survivors of the camp and the high number of people missing from the region to date confirm the assumption about the number of victims mentioned above.
background
In May 1992, intense Serb bombing of places with Bosniak and Croatian populations forced their residents to flee their hometowns. Around May 25, 1992, after the leadership of the Republika Srpska had taken control of the area, increasing numbers of prisoners were taken to the Omarska camp.
During the following weeks the Serbian troops surrounded the towns of Kozarac and Prijedor and took thousands of Bosniaks and Croats prisoner. These included numerous intellectuals , business people and local politicians. Among others: Silvije Šarić (lawyer), Mato Tadić (engineer), Jozo Maračić (civil engineer), Željko Sikora (gynecologist), Esad Sadiković (doctor).
There were also 37 women in the camp. 32 of the women were later released, but 5 women were killed:
- Mugbila Besirević (Economist)
- Edna Dautović (student)
- Hajra Hodić (student)
- Velida Mahmuljin (teacher)
- Sadeta Medunjanin (Professor)
The camp complex was on the premises of the local mining company . The prisoners were housed in hangars and garages.
International reactions
At the beginning of August 1992, journalists Ed Vulliamy ( The Guardian ) and Roy Gutman ( Newsday ) came to Omarska at the invitation of the leadership of the Republika Srpska and reported on the camp. These reports eventually led the United Nations to begin investigating the camps.
There was also a report by the journalists Vulliamy, Marshall and Williams as well as the cameraman Irvin, who showed the well-known pictures of the "Omarska death camp" in a TV report about the camps Omarska and Trnopolje. A discussion about these pictures began in early 1993 because of Peter Brock's doubts in the Weltwoche .
Current developments
Numerous prisoners are still considered missing. Numerous bones of people who were murdered in this camp were found in the area.
Some of those responsible for the camp have now been convicted of war crimes by the ICTY :
- Miroslav Kvocka , warehouse manager. With his authority and influence, Kvocka could have prevented violence and crime in the camp. He was found guilty of assisting in war crimes and sentenced to seven years in prison.
- Momčilo Gruban , one of the three shift leaders in the camp. Since a shift supervisor was in command of the entire camp while on duty and was only subordinate to the camp commandant, he could have prevented war crimes through his influence. For tolerating the mistreatment, murder, torture and sexual assault of his subordinates, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
- Milojica Kos , one of the three shift leaders in the camp. He was sentenced to six years in prison for mistreatment of prisoners by his subordinates and personally.
- Mladjo Radic , one of the three shift leaders in the camp. The guards under him were particularly brutal, Radic himself raped and mistreated female prisoners several times. The tribunal sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
- Željko Mejakić , head of security at the camp. He was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for tolerating torture, murder, rape of female inmates and other inhuman offenses by his subordinates and his own involvement in them.
- Dragoljub Prcac , police reservist. He was the "right hand man" of the camp commandant and was in command of the camp for three weeks. Because of his position, he had unrestricted access to the camp and influence over the guards. He received the lowest sentence of the convicts, five years in prison.
- Zoran Žigić , reserve police officer. He committed extensive and systematic mistreatment and murders of prisoners. The court found him guilty of multiple murders and torture and sentenced him to 25 years' imprisonment.
- Duško Knežević , No official activity in the camp. However, he had enough authority to enter Omarska at any time and participate in the rioting against the prisoners. He was sentenced to 31 years in prison for multiple murders, tortures and ill-treatment of male inmates, as well as sexual assault on female inmates.
literature
- Apartment 102 - Omarska. A witness of the times ; Diametric Publishing House; ISBN 3-938580-11-9
- To hell and back. In the camps of fear and horror - Keraterm, Omarska, Manjaca ; ISBN 3-931869-00-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ UN Commission Report ( Memento from April 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ UNHCR website with report by Human Right Watch
- ↑ Apartment 102 - Omarska ( Memento from March 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Pictures, they say, don't lie - or maybe they do? ( Memento from December 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The War of War Reporters , at www.zeit.de, accessed on September 21, 2018