Uzamnica camp was an

internment 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 ...

established in 1992 by JNA forces housing Bosniak

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

prisoners during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

. Many of the

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 ...

who were not killed in the

Višegrad massacres The Višegrad massacres were acts of mass murder committed against the Bosniak civilian population of the town and municipality of Višegrad during the ethnic cleansing of eastern Bosnia by Serb police and military forces during the spring and ...

were detained at various locations in the town, including the former JNA

military barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

and warehouse at Uzamnica, five kilometres from

Višegrad Višegrad ( sr-cyrl, Вишеград, ) is a town and municipality located in eastern Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It rests at the confluence of the Drina and the Rzav river. As of 2013, it has a population of 10,668 ...

. Some of these detainees were kept at this site for over two years. Serb soldiers raped many women and beat and terrorised non-Serb civilians. Widespread looting and destruction of non-Serb homes and property took place daily and the town's two mosques were destroyed.

The camp

Prisoners detained at Uzamnica were subjected to inhumane conditions. Many were subjected to regular

beating Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

s. Serb

paramilitaries A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

were also permitted to enter the camp to beat and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

the prisoners at will. As a result of these assaults, many of the victims suffered serious and permanent injuries. Many prisoners were used for hard

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

projects. According to survivors interviewed by Ed Vulliamy, the only food provided for the prisoners was pork, which is forbidden in Islam. Each week, convoys of male prisoners would leave the camp, heading into

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, never to be seen again.

Judgements by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...
(ICTY)

Milan Lukić Milan Lukić ( sr-cyr, Милан Лукић; born 6 September 1967) is a Bosnian Serb war criminal who led the White Eagles paramilitary group during the Bosnian War. He was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Y ...

, was found guilty of 10 counts of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

and nine counts of violations of the

laws of war The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...

for his alleged involvement in atrocities, including

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

and

destruction of property Property damage (or cf. criminal damage in England and Wales) is damage or destruction of real or tangible personal property, caused by negligence, willful destruction, or act of nature. It is similar to vandalism and arson (destroying propert ...

, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on July 20, 2009. The Trial Chamber found

Sredoje Lukić Sredoje Lukić (born 5 April 1961, Rujiste, Višegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is a Bosnian Serb war criminal. Before and during the Bosnian war, Lukić worked as a policeman in Visegrad. After the war started, he joined his cousin Milan Lukić ...

guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 30 years imprisonment. In relation to the Uzamnica camp, the evidence showed that both Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić were opportunistic visitors to the camp, although Sredoje Lukić came to the camp less frequently than Milan Lukić. When at the camp, both Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić severely and repeatedly kicked and beat the detainees with their fists, truncheons, sticks and rifle butts. Several victims testified before the Trial Chamber about these brutal beatings and the grave and permanent injuries they sustained and the suffering they endured.

Notes

References

;ICTY * * ;News Reports * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uzamnica Camp 1992 establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1994 disestablishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian genocide Serbian concentration camps in the Yugoslav Wars Bosnian War internment camps

The camp

See also

Notes

References