Dušan Knežević (war Criminal)

Dušan Knežević (born 17 June 1967), sometimes known as Duča, is a Bosnian Serb who was found guilty by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Court of BiH) of murder, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, other inhumane acts, and persecutionconstituting crimes against humanity under the criminal code of Bosnia and Herzegovinacommitted at the Omarska and Keraterm concentration camps in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War.

Knežević was born, raised and worked as a waiter in and around the town of Prijedor. In late May 1992 the Omarska camp was opened. It held almost exclusively non-Serb detainees from the surrounding districts who had been rounded up during the ethnic cleansing of central Bosanska Krajina. According to findings by the Court of BiH during his trial and appeal, between 28 May and 21 August 1992, despite not having an official position within either camp, Knežević had sufficient authority to enter or leave either camp at will. The Omarska camp was closed in late August following international outcry in the wake of a visit and reporting by British journalist Ed Vulliamy.

Knežević was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in February 1995, constituting one of the "most important indictments" made by the ICTY. On 18 May 2002, he surrendered to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and was transferred into ICTY custody the same day. He made his first appearance before the court on 24 May, when he entered pleas of not guilty to all five counts under the indictment. On 7 April 2006, the ICTY appeals chamber decided to transfer the prosecution of Knežević and his Omarska co-accused Željko Mejakić, Dušan Fuštar and Momčilo Gruban to the Court of BiH so that the men could be tried in the country where the alleged offences had occurred. On the same day, Peter Kidd, the prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued an indictment charging Knežević, Mejakić, Fuštar and Gruban with crimes against humanity, which was confirmed a week later. All four accused pleaded not guilty on 28 July. On 20 December 2006 the trial began, but the court separated Fuštar from the case on 17 April 2008 as he wished to enter into a plea agreement. The trial of Knežević, Mejakić and Gruban continued and the court rendered its first instance verdict on 30 May 2008. It found all three guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced Knežević to imprisonment for 31 years. On 16 July 2009, the appellate division of the Court of BiH affirmed his conviction and sentence.

Early life and career

Dušan Knežević was born on 17 June 1967 in the village of Orlovći near Prijedor, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, He is of Bosnian Serb ethnicity, and prior to the Bosnian War he was working as a waiter.

Omarska concentration camp

In September 1991, as Yugoslavia continued to break up, several Bosnian Serb autonomous regions were proclaimed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which then each established what was known as a crisis staff. Each crisis staff consisted of the leaders of the Bosnian Serb-dominated Serb Democratic Party (SDS), the local Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) commander, and Bosnian Serb police officials. Initially the Serb Autonomous Region of Krajina (ARK) did not include the Prijedor municipalitywhich incorporated the town itself and some outlying villages. Before the war, the population of the municipality was 44 per cent Bosnian Muslim, 42.5 per cent Bosnian Serb, 5.6 per cent Bosnian Croat, with the rest identifying as Yugoslav, Ukrainian, Russian or Italian. Within the municipality the local government was run by the Bosnian Muslim-dominated Party of Democratic Action (SDA), which had a small majority. On 30 April 1992, the SDS, assisted by police and military forces, took over the town of Prijedor, and JNA soldiers occupied all the prominent institutions in the town. A local crisis staff was created, reporting to the ARK crisis staff in the city of Banja Luka to the east. Immediately after the Bosnian Serb takeover of the municipality, non-Serbs were targeted for abusive treatment. After the JNA became the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) on 20 May, majority non-Serb villages in the Prijedor area were attacked by the VRS, and the population rounded up, although some fled. This occurred in Prijedor town itself on 30 May. Older men, and women and children were separated from men of fighting age, who were transported to the police station in Prijedor then bussed to either the Omarska or Keraterm concentration camps. The elderly men, women and children were generally taken to the Trnopolje concentration camp. All three camps were in the wider Prijedor municipality. Non-Serb community leaders were included in the roundup and sent to one of the camps.

The Omarska camp was situated at the Ljubija iron ore mine. Preparations for its operation began around 25 May, and it was officially established on 31 May by Simo Drljača, the chief of police in Prijedor and a member of the local crisis staff. Initially, the camp was intended to operate for about 14 days, but remained open until the end of August 1992. Every detainee was interrogated at least once, usually involving severe mental and physical abuse. According to the Bosnian Serb authorities, a total of 3,334 detainees were held at the camp for some time during its almost three month operation, but other sources place the number around 5,000 to 7,000.The bulk of the detainees were men, although about 40 women were also detained in the camp, most of whom were well-known in the Prijedor community before the war. The detainees were almost all Bosnian Muslims or Bosnian Croats, with a few Bosnian Serbs held due to suspicions they had been collaborating with Bosnian Muslims.

While held at the camp, detainees were kept in deplorable conditions and there was a pervasive atmosphere of extreme mental and physical violence. Intimidation, extortion, beatings, and torture were commonplace. Events that provided regular opportunities for abuse of detainees included the arrival of new detainees, interrogations, mealtimes and use of the toilet facilities. Outsiders entered the camp and were allowed to assault the detainees at random as they chose. Murder was common. Deliberate brutality and appalling conditions were integral to daily life in the camp. The majority of the detainees were held in the largest building at the mine, known as the "hangar", which had been built to house the heavy mine trucks and machinery. While the eastern part of the building was an open area, on the western side of the hangar were two floors with many separate rooms. The three other buildings were the administration building which housed detainees on the ground floor, and on the first floor there were a series of rooms used for interrogations, the administration of the camp, and the female detainees' sleeping quarters. A small garage was attached. There were also two smaller buildings, the "white house" and the "red house". Between the hangar and administration building was an L-shaped concrete strip known as the "pista". Detainees received an inadequate quantity of poor quality food that was often rotten or inedible, and detainees experienced severe loss of weight while held at the camp, and were beaten while moving in or out of the eating area. They were also provided with an inadequate quantity of water which was often foul. Detainees were often beaten while moving to and from the inadequate toilet facilities and instead soiled themselves. The conditions in the camp and the medical care provided were grossly inadequate. Interrogations were carried out regularly and in an inhumane and cruel manner, and created an atmosphere of violence and terror. Detainees held in the administration building, in the hangar, and on the pista, were repeatedly subjected to mental and physical violence. Detainees were frequently beaten and murdered in and around the red house and the white house. Female detainees were subjected to various forms of sexual violence in the camp.

The Keraterm camp operated in a similar manner to the Omarska camp. Like Omarska, Keraterm only held a small number of female detainees, and most of the detainees were Bosnian Muslims, with a few Bosnian Croats. Overcrowding was severe, the conditions unhygienic, food and water inadequate. Most detainees were interrogated, detainees were beaten and sometimes killed with no apparent reason, and women were raped.

On 7 August 1992, the British journalist Ed Vulliamy reported on the shocking conditions in the Omarska and Trnopolje camps, having visited them in the preceding days at the invitation of the president of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb proto-state, Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić. The international outcry that arose from Vulliamy's reporting and photographs of emaciated detainees caused the Bosnian Serbs to close the Omarska camp soon after, although many of the detainees were just moved to other camps.

Role and activities of Knežević at Omarska and Keraterm camps

During the period 24 May to 30 August 1992, Knežević – known to the detainees as Duča – entered the Omarska and Keraterm camps to kill and beat detainees whenever he chose and without hindrance, despite having no official role at the camp. He committed "torture, sexual violence (rapes and other forms of sexual abuse), other inhumane acts (including harassment, humiliation, and other psychological abuse), and persecutions, as crimes against humanity pursuant to a joint criminal enterprise". The court worked under the assumption that Knežević's motive was that he was trying to find information about the individual who had killed his brother during the war.

Indictment, surrender and transfer of case to Bosnia and Herzegovina

In 1993, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the United Nations (UN) to prosecute war crimes that took place in the Balkans in the 1990s. On 10 February 1995, Knežević, along with 18 other persons allegedly involved in the running of the Omarska camp, was indicted by the Prosecutor of the ICTY, Richard Goldstone. The indictments were reviewed and confirmed by Judge Adolphus Karibi-Whyte of the court three days later. The indictment of Knežević and his co-accused was one of the "most important indictments" made by the ICTY. On 20 December 1995, the Bosnian War ended when the Dayton Agreement came into force, along with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led multi-national peace enforcement operation known as the Implementation Force (IFOR). After a year during which the peace agreement between the former warring parties was successfully implemented, the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) took over on 20 December 1996. On 8 May 1998, the ICTY prosecutor withdrew the charges against 11 of the 19 people indicted over the operation of the Omarska camp. As a result, the amended indictment included only Knežević, Željko Mejakić, Momčilo Gruban, Miroslav Kvočka, Milojica Kos, Mlađo Radić, Zoran Žigić and Dragoljub Prcać. On 9 November 1998, the prosecutor was granted leave to withdraw Kvočka, Kos, Radić, and Žigić from the amended indictment and consolidated their charges under a single and separate indictment. This left Knežević, Mejakić and Gruban on the amended indictment.

Knežević surrendered to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 18 May 2002, and was transferred into the custody of the ICTY on the following day. He made his first appearance before the court on 24 May 2002 when he entered pleas of not guilty to all charges against him. Gruban had surrendered to the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro two weeks earlier and was already in ICTY custody. In September 2002, the original indictment was joined to another case regarding the Keraterm camp. The consolidated indictment added Predrag Banović

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