Trnopolje camp

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Trnopolje camp was a concentration camp (also referred to as ghetto, prison and detention camp) established in the village of Trnopolje near the city of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first months of the Bosnian War. Nominally "a transit camp" for members of the non-Serb mainly Bosniak population of the Prijedor region, it was described by a United Nations Security Council report as "a concentration camp".[1] Human Rights Watch likewise classified it as a concentration camp.[2]

The camp was established and run by the authorities of Republika Srpska and local paramilitary Serb police to confine and detain Bosniak and Bosnian Croat civilian population found "innocent" by the Serbs after "investigation". It was similar to, the Keraterm, Omarska and Manjača camps that were also opened in the vicinity but served to detain those being "interrogated" or found "guilty" (and "awaiting trial"). According to the ICTY prosecution several hundred non-Serbs were killed at Trnopolje. According to the Bassiouni Commission Report by the United Nations Security Council:

"... the regime at the Trnopolje camp was far better than in Omarska and Keraterm; none the less harassment and malnutrition was a problem for all the inmates. Rapes, beatings and other kinds of torture and even killings were not rare. ... Albeit Logor Trnopolje was not a death camp like Logor Omarska or Logor Keraterm, the label «concentration camp» is none the less justified for Logor Trnopolje due to the regime prevailing in the camp."[3]

Contents

[edit] Discovery

The camp was discovered by the international media in July 1992 at which point the wire fence was removed.[citation needed] In August 1992, during the closure of the camp, some 200 former male inmates were separated and killed in the Koricani Cliffs massacre.[4]

There was some controversy regarding the Trnopolje footage, due to claims of "faking" the reports. Allegations promoted by the British Living Marxism (LM) paper, prompted the Independent Television News (ITN) network to accuse the LM of libel. ITN won the case, effectively forcing the paper to close down.[5]

[edit] The camp

The camp, which was situated on the grounds of a school and a community center/dome and approximately three hundred square meters in size, was enclosed by wire fencing, including barbwire, and surrounded by machine gun emplacements. According to subsequent testimony from witnesses, compared to other detention camps in the region Trnopolje was a relatively low-security staging area for the forcible deportation of non-Serbs from the Prijedor area. Detainees were fed only sporadically, but were allowed to forage for food outside the detention area's perimeter, explaining the widely varying nourishment conditions of the inmates.[6] The Stakić Trial Judgment described the conditions as follows, noting that they were slightly better than at Omarska and Keraterm:

"The detainees were provided with food at least once a day and, for some time, the families of detainees were allowed to bring food. However the quantity of food available was insufficient and people often went hungry. Moreover, the water supply was insufficient and the toilet facilities inadequate. The majority of the detainees slept in the open air. Some devised makeshift . . . shelters of blankets and plastic bags. While clearly inadequate, the conditions in the Trnopolje camp were not as appalling as those that prevailed in Omarska and Keraterm."[7]

The majority of the detainees were Bosniaks from north-west Bosnia, however Croats and other non-Serbs were also held at Trnopolje. The camp population consisted for the most part of women and children who had been expelled from their homes and whose male family members had been detained in other locations. Reports place the number of detainees at between 1,500 and 7,000 during the summer and early fall of 1992.[8][9]

Rapes, beatings and other kinds of torture, and even killings, were not rare. The first period was allegedly the worst in Trnopolje, with the highest numbers of inmates killed, raped, and otherwise mistreated and tortured. The Serb soldiers used baseball bats, iron bars, rifle butts and their hands and feet or whatever they had at their disposal to beat the detainees. Individuals were who taken out for questioning would often return bruised or injured.[10] The people killed in the camp were usually removed soon after by some camp inmates who were ordered by the Serbs to take them away and bury them.[11] Killings occurred frequently in the Trnopolje camp.[12] The number of those killed is reportedly between 200 and 500.[13] In the Judgment in the Brđanin case, the Trial Chamber found that in the period from 28 May to October 1992:

"numerous killings occurred in Trnopolje camp. A number of detainees died as a result of the beatings received by the guards. Others were killed by camp guards with rifles. The Trial Chamber also [found] that at least 20 inmates were taken outside the camp and killed there."[7]

Several witnesses testified that women who were detained at the Trnopolje camp were taken out of the camp at night by Serb soldiers and raped or sexually assaulted. There are reports that young girls between 10 and 14 years old were also raped.[14] A victim of rape in the camp confirmed that several women and young girls, including a 13 year old one, were raped in the camp or taken out at night for this purpose.[15] The rape of 30-40 prisoners on 6 June 1992 is reported by both the Report of the Commission of Experts (Vol. IV, Ann. VIII, pp. 251-253) and a publication of the United States State Department.[7]

[edit] The Judgment of the ICJ

The ICJ presented its judgment in Bosnian Genocide Case on 26 February 2007, in which it had examined atrocities committed in detention camps, including Trnopolje, in relation to Article II (b) of the Genocide Convention. The Court stated in its judgment:

"Having carefully examined the evidence presented before it, and taken note of that presented to the ICTY, the Court considers that it has been established by fully conclusive evidence that members of the protected group were systematically victims of massive mistreatment, beatings, rape and torture causing serious bodily and mental harm during the conflict and, in particular, in the detention camps. The requirements of the material element, as defined by Article II (b) of the Convention are thus fulfilled. The Court finds, however, on the basis of evidence before it, that it has not been conclusively established that those atrocities, although they too may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, were committed with the specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy the protected group, in whole or in part, required for a finding that genocide has been perpetrated."[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/V.htm#I-VI-VI
  2. ^ http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/bosnia/Bosnia-02.htm#P209_40172
  3. ^ http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/V.htm#I-VI
  4. ^ ICTY Case No. IT-97-24-T - Milomir Stakic Paras. 214-219 (h) Approximately 200 persons killed on the Vlasic mountain convoy – 21 August 1992
  5. ^ http://www.david-campbell.org/photography/atrocity-and-memory/
  6. ^ http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/kvo-ai001026e.htm
  7. ^ a b c d ICJ; The Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), case 91, The Hague, 26 February 2007, p. 119, paragraph 319. [1]
  8. ^ http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/VIII-06.htm
  9. ^ http://www.un.org/icty/stakic/trialc/judgement/sta-tj030731e.htm
  10. ^ http://www.un.org/icty/stakic/trialc/judgement/sta-tj030731e.htm#IE2aiii
  11. ^ http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13685.pdf
  12. ^ http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13685.pdf
  13. ^ http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/NOTES/08-06.htm#fn3235
  14. ^ http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/comexpert/ANX/NOTES/08-06.htm#fn3233
  15. ^ http://www.un.org/icty/stakic/trialc/judgement/sta-tj030731e.htm

[edit] External links

David Campbell (2002): Atrocity, memory, photography: imaging the concentration camps of Bosnia - the case of ITN versus Living Marxism, Part 1. Journal of Human Rights, vol 1, number 1. Available at http://www.david-campbell.org/photography/atrocity-and-memory/

David Campbell (2002): Atrocity, memory, photography: imaging the concentration camps of Bosnia - the case of ITN versus Living Marxism, Part 2. Journal of Human Rights, vol 1, number 2. Available at http://www.david-campbell.org/photography/atrocity-and-memory/

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Bosnian War
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1991
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Čelebići · Dretelj · Gabela · Heliodrom · Keraterm · Manjaca · Omarska · Trnopolje · Uzamnica · Vilina Vlas · Vojno
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