Manjača camp
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Manjača camp (pronounced:Mañacha) was a detention camp (also referred to as prison and concentration camp) on mountain Manjača near the city of Banja Luka in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995. The camp was founded by the JNA and authorities of Republika Srpska (RS) and was used to collect and confine civilians of Bosniak and Bosnian Croat nationality. According to The International Committee of the Red Cross there were 3,737 prisoners held at Manjača camp. Exact number of people held at this camp is somewhat of an uncertainty since detainees were continually transferred between other camps including Omarska camp, Trnopolje camp and Keraterm camp. The camp was the site of human rights abuses, namely the regular & systematic beating & killing of detainees, resulting in indictments & convinctions by the ICTY [link].
Most reports indicate that the camp contained male prisoners of all ages but mostly between the ages of 18 and 60. However, there are allegations that in the early spring of 1992, a small number of women were held at the camp and raped.
The camp was shut down under international pressure in late 1992 but was reopened in October 1995. At that time it was estimated that total of between 4,500 and 6,000 non-Serbs primarily from Sanski Most and Banja Luka areas have passed through the camp. When the camp was captured in 1995 by the Bosnian authorities some 85 corpses were found associated with killings at the camp. Some 1,000 people are still missing from the Sanski Most that were deported to Manjača camp.
Background
The Manjača camp began its operation during the 1991 Croatian War between JNA and Croatian forces. At that time numerous Croatian prisoners of war were held at the camp. With the start of Bosnian War in early 1992 the camp began to admit civilian predominantly Bosniak detainees.According to a report of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the administrators of this facility who were officials of the army of the RS, maintained that the prisoners were prisoners of war. However, other observers consider that most of them probably never bore arms, and were detained simply because their age and Bosniak ethnic origin made them potential combatants in the eyes of the Serbian authorities.
In the detention facilities, many prisoners were killed, tortured, and subjected to other inhumane treatment by RS forces especially targeting prominent individuals, such as intellectual, professional, business, political and religious leaders. At a minimum, during the period from late May 1992 to early August 1992, hundreds of detainees, identities of many of whom are known, died. Almost all of the survivors were eventually forcibly transferred or deported from the area.
Recent developments
Some of the RS officials responsible for running the camp have since been indicted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes including Milomir Stakic, Stojan Zupljanin. Some have been convicted while others are still awaiting trials at the ICTY.See also
External links
- [Prison camps - part 1/10]
- [US District court indictment]
- [Stakic indictment]
- [Srebrenica Genocide Blog] - Independent Blog regarding Srebrenica Massacre (7/11/1995)
- [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
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