The Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK) reminds in a statement that this year marks 34 years since the closure of the Sušica camp near Vlasenica, which was established on May 31, 1992 by Serbian forces and managed by members of the army and local militia.
From the end of May to October 1992, the camp was used to detain around 8,000 non-Serb civilians from Vlasenica and the surrounding villages.
According to the file published by the Fund for Humanitarian Law from Belgrade, the former General of the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) Svetozar Andrić issued the order for the establishment of the Sušica camp based on the decision of the Government of SAO Birač. After its establishment, the warden was a member of the public security station (SJB) Vlasenica Veljko Bašić, while from the beginning of June to approximately the end of September 1992, the camp was commanded by Dragan Nikolić, known as “Jenki”, a member of the special police platoon at the SJB.
In 2005, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Nikolić to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to participating in the persecution, murders, torture and rape of Bosniak detainees in the Sušica camp. He was released on early release in 2013 after serving two thirds of his sentence. He died in 2018 in Vlasenica.
As described in the verdict against Dragan Nikolic, the Sušica camp consisted of two main buildings and a smaller house. The detainees were housed in a hangar measuring 50×30 meters, in which between 300 and 500 people stayed at the same time. Another facility was used to store uniforms and weapons. The conditions were extremely difficult, including the overcrowded space and often spoiled food for the detainees. The smaller house served the guards and the commandant for questioning detainees.
Men, women and children were held in the camp, and sometimes whole families were captured. Women and children usually only stayed for a short time before being forcibly moved to other locations. At the end of June 1992, a large number of detained men were transferred from the Sušica camp to the Batković camp near Bijeljina. The guards brutally beat the detainees every day. Many prisoners died as a result of the beatings. Many of the detained women were sexually abused, including rape. Camp guards and other men who were allowed to enter the camp often took the women out of the hangar at night. When they returned, they were beside themselves and traumatized.
UDIK’s publication “War crimes in Milići and Vlasenica – verdicts” documents three cases conducted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which relate to war crimes committed in the territory of the pre-war municipality of Vlasenica. The state court found Predrag Bastah and Goran Višković guilty and sentenced them to a total of 40 years in prison for crimes in Vlasenica, while Dragan Marinković was sentenced to eight years in prison for war crimes committed in the area of today’s Milići. Bastah and Višković participated in the removal of several Bosniak civilians from the camp, who never returned and since then all traces of them have been lost and their bodies have never been found. Several proceedings for war crimes committed in this area are currently pending before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They point out that despite the confessions of individual convicts for war crimes, the testimonies of survivors, as well as numerous facts established before domestic and international courts, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still facing phenomena of denial that war crimes and genocide were committed.
Of particular concern is the public glorification of legally convicted war criminals, the disparagement of survivors, as well as the rhetoric that incites division, intolerance and fear of new conflicts.
- It is also disturbing that issues of the war past and inter-national divisions are still used as a means of political mobilization, especially during election campaigns. Instead of programs aimed at solving the real problems of citizens, political discourse often boils down to accusing others, deepening divisions and using war traumas for political purposes – UDIK warns.
They call on the competent judicial and other institutions to perform their work responsibly, efficiently and impartially. They believe that it is necessary to speed up the ongoing procedures and intensify the work on prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes.
- Many victims and their families are still waiting for justice, and it is the responsibility of the state and judicial institutions to ensure that crimes are investigated and that those responsible are prosecuted in accordance with the law. We must not allow institutions to become part of the policy of forgetting, denying or relativizing crimes. Establishing the facts, prosecuting those responsible and fostering a culture of remembrance is the basis for building a society in which human dignity and the right of every victim to justice are respected. Finally, it is necessary to speak openly about one’s own responsibility. The state in which our society finds itself is not only the result of the decisions of institutions, but also of political agendas and the decisions of those whom citizens trust – it is stated in a statement from UDIK.
They say that truth, justice and dignified memory of the victims must not be the subject of political calculations and that they must be a permanent obligation of the society and institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
