The Sušica camp was a
concentration
In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', an ...
and
detention camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
set up by
Serb
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
forces for
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...
and other non-Serbs in the
Vlasenica
Vlasenica ( sr-cyrl, Власеница) is a town and municipality located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population 11,467 inhabitants, while the town of Vlasenica has a population of 7,228 inhabi ...
municipality in eastern
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
.
The camp
The camp comprised two main buildings and a small house. The detainees were housed in a hangar which measured approximately 30 by 50 meters. Between late May and October 1992, as many as 8,000 Bosniak civilians and other non-Serbs from Vlasenica and the surrounding villages were successively detained in the hangar at Sušica camp. The number of detainees in the hangar at any one time was usually between 300 and 500. The building was severely overcrowded and living conditions were deplorable.
[
Men, women and children were detained at the camp, sometimes entire families. Women and children as young as eight years old were usually detained for short periods of time and then forcibly transferred to nearby Muslim areas. The men were held in the camp until its closure in late September 1992, and were then transferred to the larger ]Batković concentration camp
Batković ( sr-cyrl, Батковић) is a village in the City of Bijeljina, Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of ...
near the town of Bijeljina
Bijeljina ( sr-cyrl, Бијељина) is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the provincial center of Semberija, a geographic region in the country's northeast. Administratively, Bijeljina is part of the Republika Srpska e ...
. Women of all ages were raped or sexually assaulted during their time in the camp by camp guards or other men who were allowed to enter the camp.[
Male detainees of the camp suffered a similar fate as the women. They were bullied, tortured and
murdered.][ According to Pero Popović, a former guard at the camp, they were generally lined up against an electricity pylon just outside the barracks and shot. Detainees at Sušica performed forced labour, sometimes at the front lines. Some detainees were killed by camp guards or died from mistreatment. A massacre was committed during the night of 30 September 1992, when the remaining 140 to 150 detainees at Sušica camp were driven out of the camp with buses and executed.
]
War crime verdict
Dragan Nikolić
Dragoslav "Dragan" Nikolić ( sr-cyr, Драгослав Драган Николић, ; 20 August 1943 – 11 March 2016) was a Yugoslav and later, Serbian actor.
Nikolić studied at Dramatic Arts Academy in Belgrade. In 1967 he starred in the ...
, the commander of the camp, pleaded guilty to crimes against humanity and was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.[ Predrag Bastah and Goran Višković were sentenced to 22 years and 18 years of imprisonment, respectively, for their involvement at the Sušica camp.]
See also
*Bosnian Genocide
The Bosnian genocide ( bs, bosanski genocid) refers to either the Srebrenica massacre or the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing campaign throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Bosnian War of ...
*Dretelj camp
The Dretelj camp or Dretelj prison was a prison camp run by the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) and later by the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) during the Bosnian War.
The camp
The camp was located near Čapljina and Medjugorje in southern Bosnia ...
*Gabela camp
The Gabela camp or Gabela prison was a prison camp run by the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia and Croatian Defence Council in Gabela. The camp was located several kilometres south of Čapljina. Its prisoners were Bosniaks and Serbs.
The cam ...
*Heliodrom camp
The Heliodrom camp ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Logor Heliodrom, Логор Хелиодром) or Heliodrom prison was a detention camp that operated between September 1992 and April 1994. It was run by the Military Police of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-B ...
*Keraterm camp
The Keraterm camp was a concentration camp established by Bosnian Serb military and police authorities near the town of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War. The camp was used to collect and confine between 1,000–1, ...
*Manjača camp
Manjača was a concentration camp which was located on mount Manjača near the city of Banja Luka in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War and the Croatian War of Independence from 1991 to 1995. The camp was founded by the Yugosla ...
*Omarska camp
The Omarska camp was a concentration camp run by Bosnian Serb forces in the mining town of Omarska, near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, set up for Bosniak and Croat men and women during the Prijedor massacre. Functioning in the fir ...
*Trnopolje camp
The Trnopolje camp was an internment camp established by Bosnian Serb military and police authorities in the village of Trnopolje near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the first months of the Bosnian War. Also variously termed ...
*Uzamnica camp
Uzamnica camp was an internment camp established in 1992 by JNA forces housing Bosniak civilian prisoners during the Bosnian War.
Many of the Bosniaks who were not killed in the Višegrad massacres were detained at various locations in the town, ...
*Vilina Vlas
Vilina Vlas was a rape camp active during the Bosnian War. It served as one of the main detention facilities where Bosniak civilian prisoners were beaten, tortured and murdered and the women raped by prison guards during the Višegrad massacres ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Susica camp
1992 establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina
1992 disestablishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Serbian concentration camps in the Yugoslav Wars
Bosnian War internment camps
Serbian war crimes in the Bosnian War