Trnopolje camp
Encyclopedia
Trnopolje camp was a concentration 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
.
and local paramilitary
Serb police to confine and detain members of the non-Serb (Bosniak
and Bosnian Croat) civilian population found "innocent" after "investigation". The other Prijedor camps, Omarska
, Keraterm
and Manjača
, served to detain those being "interrogated" or found "guilty" (and "awaiting trial").
Trnopolje has also been described variously as a ghetto
, a prison
and a detention camp. However, the Report of the United Nations Commission of Experts to the Security Council (the Bassiouni Commission Report) determined that "Logor Trnopolje" was "a concentration camp", functioning as a staging area for mass deportations mainly of women, children, and elderly men, and described the Omarska
and Keraterm
camps to which the adult non-Serb men were taken as death camps.
The Report used the Bosnian word logor (from German Lager, "(prison) camp" or "storage area") specifically to distinguish the Prijedor camps from the wide range of institutions encompassed by the English term "camp". The use of the term was intended to establish the link with the inhumane characteristics of their regimes.
The total number of camp inmates reportedly varied on average between 4,000 and 7,000 people.
The camp's existence was discovered by the international media in July 1992. Footage of Omarska and Trnopolje filmed by a team of British journalists was shown around the world and caused public outrage which led to the closure of the camps.
According to the ICTY prosecution several hundred non-Serbs were killed at Trnopolje. In August 1992, during the closure of the camp, some 200 former male inmates were separated and killed in the Koricani Cliffs massacre
.
Claims published subsequently by the British magazine Living Marxism
(LM) that footage filmed at Trnopolje deliberately misrepresented the situation in the camp eventually prompted the Independent Television News (ITN) network to sue LM for libel. Following ITN's victory in a court case in which the evidence given by the camp doctor led LM to abandon its defence, the magazine declared itself bankrupt, avoiding payment of the large damages awarded.
Prijedor
Prijedor is a city and municipality in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the Bosanska Krajina region....
in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
in the first months of the Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
.
History
According to the local Bosnian Serb authorities Trnopolje was "a transit camp" for members of the non-Serb, mainly Bosniak, population of the Prijedor region. The camp was purportedly established and run by the authorities of Republika SrpskaRepublika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
and local paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
Serb police to confine and detain members of the non-Serb (Bosniak
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
and Bosnian Croat) civilian population found "innocent" after "investigation". The other Prijedor camps, Omarska
Omarska camp
Omarska camp was a concentration camp run by Bosnian Serb forces, in Omarska, a mining town near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, set up during the Prijedor massacre for Bosniak and Croat men and women. Functioning in the first months of the Bosnian War in 1992, it was one of 677...
, Keraterm
Keraterm camp
Keraterm camp was a concentration camp near the town of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War and genocide from 1992 to 1995. The camp was founded by the authorities of Republika Srpska and was used to collect and confine civilians of Bosniak and Bosnian Croat...
and Manjača
Manjaca camp
Manjača camp was a concentration camp on mountain Manjača near the city of Banja Luka in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Croatian War and Bosnian War from 1991 to 1995...
, served to detain those being "interrogated" or found "guilty" (and "awaiting trial").
Trnopolje has also been described variously as a ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
, a prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
and a detention camp. However, the Report of the United Nations Commission of Experts to the Security Council (the Bassiouni Commission Report) determined that "Logor Trnopolje" was "a concentration camp", functioning as a staging area for mass deportations mainly of women, children, and elderly men, and described the Omarska
Omarska camp
Omarska camp was a concentration camp run by Bosnian Serb forces, in Omarska, a mining town near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, set up during the Prijedor massacre for Bosniak and Croat men and women. Functioning in the first months of the Bosnian War in 1992, it was one of 677...
and Keraterm
Keraterm camp
Keraterm camp was a concentration camp near the town of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War and genocide from 1992 to 1995. The camp was founded by the authorities of Republika Srpska and was used to collect and confine civilians of Bosniak and Bosnian Croat...
camps to which the adult non-Serb men were taken as death camps.
The Report used the Bosnian word logor (from German Lager, "(prison) camp" or "storage area") specifically to distinguish the Prijedor camps from the wide range of institutions encompassed by the English term "camp". The use of the term was intended to establish the link with the inhumane characteristics of their regimes.
The total number of camp inmates reportedly varied on average between 4,000 and 7,000 people.
The camp's existence was discovered by the international media in July 1992. Footage of Omarska and Trnopolje filmed by a team of British journalists was shown around the world and caused public outrage which led to the closure of the camps.
According to the ICTY prosecution several hundred non-Serbs were killed at Trnopolje. In August 1992, during the closure of the camp, some 200 former male inmates were separated and killed in the Koricani Cliffs massacre
Koricani Cliffs massacre
The Korićani Cliffs massacre was the mass murder of more than 200 Bosniak and Croat men on 21 August 1992, during the Bosnian War, at the Korićani Cliffs on Mount Vlašić in central Bosnia and Herzegovina....
.
Claims published subsequently by the British magazine Living Marxism
Living Marxism
Living Marxism was a British magazine, originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the British Revolutionary Communist Party . It was later rebranded as LM and folded in March 2000 following an adverse ruling in a libel lawsuit brought by the British news corporation, Independent Television News...
(LM) that footage filmed at Trnopolje deliberately misrepresented the situation in the camp eventually prompted the Independent Television News (ITN) network to sue LM for libel. Following ITN's victory in a court case in which the evidence given by the camp doctor led LM to abandon its defence, the magazine declared itself bankrupt, avoiding payment of the large damages awarded.
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:See also
- Bosnian GenocideBosnian GenocideThe term Bosnian Genocide refers to either the genocide committed by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica in 1995 or the ethnic cleansing campaign that took place throughout areas controlled by the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War....
- Dretelj campDretelj campDretelj camp was a concentration camp run by the Croatian Defence Forces and later by the Croatian Defence Council during the Bosnian War.-The camp:The camp was located near Čapljina and Medjugorje in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina...
- Gabela campGabela campGabela camp was a concentration camp run by the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia and Croatian Defence Council in Gabela, the camp was located several kilometres south of Čapljina.-The camp:...
- Heliodrom campHeliodrom CampHeliodrom camp was a concentration camp operated between September 1992 and April 1994 by the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia and Croatian Defence Council to detain Bosniaks and other non-Croats during the Bosnian War, it was located in Rodoc, just south of Mostar town, in Mostar...
- Keraterm campKeraterm campKeraterm camp was a concentration camp near the town of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War and genocide from 1992 to 1995. The camp was founded by the authorities of Republika Srpska and was used to collect and confine civilians of Bosniak and Bosnian Croat...
- Manjača campManjaca campManjača camp was a concentration camp on mountain Manjača near the city of Banja Luka in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Croatian War and Bosnian War from 1991 to 1995...
- Omarska campOmarska campOmarska camp was a concentration camp run by Bosnian Serb forces, in Omarska, a mining town near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, set up during the Prijedor massacre for Bosniak and Croat men and women. Functioning in the first months of the Bosnian War in 1992, it was one of 677...
- Uzamnica campUzamnica campUzamnica camp was a concentration camp established in 1992 by JNA forces for the Bosniak civilian prisoners during the Bosnian war.Many of the Bosniaks who were not immediately killed in the Višegrad massacre were detained at various locations in the town, including the former JNA military...
- Vilina VlasVilina VlasVilina Vlas is a health spa that served as one of the main detention facilities where Bosniak prisoners were beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted during the Bosnian War, it is located about seven kilometers south-east of Višegrad, on the way to Gorazde....
- Vojno campVojno campVojno camp was a detention camp set up by the Croatian Defence Council from June 1993 to March 1994, to detain tens of thousands of Bosniaks in the Mostar municipality...
- Serbian war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars
External links
- Human Rights Watch
- "The Picture that Fooled the World", Thomas Deichmann, LM
- "COURTSIDE: Prijedor Genocide Trial - Majority of detention camp inmates were "persecuted Muslims", court hears", Mirna Jancic, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, ICTY - Tribunal UpdateNo. 275, 15-20 July 2002
- "Poison in the well of history", Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian, 15 March 2000
- "High stakes in battle over Serbian guilt - ITN libel trial: Terrified eyes of a camp doctor said more than celebrity campaigning or the might of a giant news organisation", Julia Hartley-Brewer, The Guardian, 15 March 2000
- http://www.david-campbell.org/photography/atrocity-and-memory/
- Radovan Karadzic $5 million Reward - The U.S. Government is offering $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Radovan Karadzic
- Ratko Mladic $5 million Reward - The U.S. Government is offering $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Ratko Mladic
- 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/