Momčilo Gruban

Momčilo Gruban (born 19 June 1961), sometimes known by the nickname Čkalja, is a former reserve police officer 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 concentration camp in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War.

Gruban was born, raised and worked as a machinist in and around the town of Prijedor. In late May 1992 he was called up as a reserve policeman and began working at the Omarska camp which 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, Gruban was the leader of one of the guard shifts at the camp. He supervised and had effective control of his guard shift, participated in arbitrarily depriving the detainees of their liberty and contributed to and advanced the operations of the camp involving ill-treating and persecuting Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and others held in the camp through various forms of physical, mental and sexual violence. He had the authority and duty to improve the conditions of the camp which were brutal and degrading, but did not do so, resulting in an atmosphere of terror. While he was shift commander, detainees were kept without the basic necessities of life such as adequate food, drinking water, medicines and medical care. They were also kept in unhygienic and cramped conditions, and subjected to interrogations, beatings, torture, harassment, humiliation and psychological abuse on a daily basis, living in constant fear of their lives. At least one hundred detainees were killed or died in the camp during his period as a guard shift commander, including killings by guards over whom Gruban had effective control, and deaths as a result of denial of medical care. Gruban also participated directly and personally in beatings, and had effective control of guards who beat and sexually assaulted detainees. The camp was closed in late August following international outcry in the wake of a visit and reporting by British journalist Ed Vulliamy.

Gruban was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in February 1995. On 2 May 2002, he surrendered to the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro and was transferred into ICTY custody the same day. He made his first appearance before the court on 10 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 Gruban and his Omarska co-accused Željko Mejakić, Dušan Fuštar and Dušan Knežević 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 Gruban, Mejakić, Fuštar and Knežević 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 Mejakić, Gruban and Knežević continued and the court rendered its first instance verdict on 30 May 2008. It found all three guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced Gruban to imprisonment for 11 years. On 16 July 2009, the appellate division of the Court of BiH affirmed his conviction but reduced Gruban's sentence to seven years due to the assistance he extended to several detainees. On 31 December 2010, Gruban was granted conditional release. In 2014 he was a defence witness during the trial of the former president of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb proto-state, Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and during his testimony he claimed that neither he not the guards on his shift had committed crimes at Omarska camp.

Early life and career

Momčilo Gruban was born on 19 June 1961 in the village of Marićka near Prijedor, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, the son of Milan and Radojka. He is of Bosnian Serb ethnicity. He graduated from the Secondary and Post-Secondary Mechanical Engineering School and the Police Academy, and was a qualified machinist. Prior to the Bosnian War he was a married father of two living in Marićka, and was a reserve policeman.

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. 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 aged between 15 and 65, 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. Later in the summer, non-Serb community leaders who had not been rounded up initially were arrested, taken to the police station and beaten then sent to one of the camps.

The Omarska camp was situated at the Ljubija mine. Preparations for its operation began around 27 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 15 days, but remained open until late 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. Former detainees estimated that up to 3,000 people were held at any given time, and former camp workers stated that number exceeded 2,000. The bulk of the detainees were men, although 36 women were also detained in the camp, most of whom were well-known in the Prijedor community before the war. Some boys as young as 15 were held in the early days of the camp's operation. 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 inhumane 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 over 40 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 most detainees lost of body weight while held at the camp, and were often beaten while moving in or out of the eating area. They were also provided with an inadequate quantity of water. 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 white house. Female detainees were subjected to various forms of sexual violence in the camp.

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 Gruban at Omarska camp

According to findings by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Court of BiH) during Gruban's trial and appeal, for the period 1 June to 21 August 1992, Gruban – known to the detainees as Čkalja ("Thistle") – worked at the Omarska camp, having been called up as a reserve policeman. He was the commander of one of the three shifts of guards at the camp, consisting of approximately 30 men, and had effective control over the work and conduct of all guards on his shift, and many of those who visited the camp during his shift. He supervised the conditions in the camp and participated in arbitrarily depriving the detainees of their liberty and contributed to and advanced the operations of the camp involving ill-treating and persecuting Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and others held in the camp through various forms of physical, mental and sexual violence. He had the authority and duty to improve the conditions of the camp which were brutal and degrading, resulting in an atmosphere of terror. Detainees in the camp were kept without the basic necessities of life such as adequate food, drinking water, medicines and medical care, and in unhygienic and cramped conditions, and subjected to interrogations, beatings, torture, harassment, humiliation and psychological abuse on a daily basis, living in constant fear of their lives. At least one hundred detainees were killed or died in the camp as a result of these conditions. The court found that killings and beatings were committed by guards over whom Gruban had effective control, and that he was also responsible for deaths that occurred as a result of denial of medical care. The court also found Gruban responsible for killings, beatings and sexual assaults of detainees by people outside of his shift.

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, Gruban, 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. 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 Gruban, Željko Mejakić, Dušan Knežević, 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 Gruban, Mejakić and Knežević on the amended indictment.

Gruban surrendered to the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro on 2 May 2002, and was transferred into the custody of the ICTY on the same day. He made his first appearance before the court on 10 May 2002 when he entered pleas of not guilty to all charges against him. Knežević surrendered to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 18 May 2002 and was also transferred into 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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