An excerpt from the book - 2
GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS IN THE REGION OF BOSNIAN POSAVINA
(BRCKO, ORASJE, ODZAK AND BOSANSKI BROD)
1992 and 1993
***
3.0. DEPORTATION OF CIVILIAN POPULATION OF SERBIAN NATIONALITY
AND OF CAPTURED SERBS TO THE PRISON CAMPS, AND INHUMAN
TREATMENT, TORTURE AND KILLINGS
3.1. INTRODUCTION
During the year 1992 and onwards in the territories of the then-so-called Bosnia and Herzegovina which were under the control of the Muslim and Croat armed forces, a large number of prison camps and prisons were established for imprisonment of civilians of Serbian nationality who were expelled from their homes, and also for the imprisonment of the captured Serbs.
Thus, in the area of Bosnian Posavina a system of 35 prison camps was established (Brod-8, Brcko-19, Samac-1, Orasje-4 and Odzak-3) for Serbian civilian population. It may be said that almost the entire Bosnian Posavina was transformed into a prison camp for Serbs.
Concretely, the following prison camps were in existence:
in Brod: 1) Secondary school center "Fric Pavlik", 2) Tulek, warehouse of "Beograd" Department Stores, 3) storage of building material of the "GIK" company, 4) Krndija camp (facing the Fire Department), 5) camp along the Sava river (kayak club), 6) production hall of the stockings factory "Bosna", 7) camp in the building of the military police (a former "Jugobanka" building), and 8) city stadium of the "Polet" soccer club.
in Brcko: 9) Boderiste, "Interplet" factory hall, 10) Bosanska Bijela, town hall, 11) Bosanska Bijela, plum drying plant, 12) Bosanska Bijela, private houses, 13) Boce, primary school, 14) Boce, local community premises, 15) Gornji Zovik, building material storage, 16) Gornji Rahic, town hall, 17) Gornji Rahic, building material storage, 18) Gornji Rahic, drying plant in Okrajci, 19) Gornji Rahic, primary school, 20) garage in the nursery garden between Rahici and Maoca, 21) Donji Rahic, private houses, 22) Maoca, chicken farm, 23) Maoca, "Bolji zivot" cafe, 24) Palanka, local community library, 25) Rasljani, warehouse, 26) Ulice, primary school, and 27) Ulice, town hall.
in Samac: 28) village of Domaljevac, primary school
in Orasje: 29) secondary school center, 30) Donja Mahala, camp in the primary school, 31) Donja Mahala, shed of Mirza Filipovic called "Deljkovic", and
in Odzak: 32) Posavska Mahala, 33) primary school (the gym), 34) "Strolit" company, and 35) Novi Grad village.
In this document we will present evidence for some of the crimes committed in the prison camps in the area of the municipalities of Brcko, Orasje, Odzak and Bosanski Brod.
Immediately it must be said that at present there is no reliable evidence of a precise number of Serbs who have been taken from the year 1992 onwards to these camps. As an exception, there is a document entitle "The List of Detainees in Prison (school building)" in Odzak compiled by the authorities of the Croat Defense Council (HVO) listing 618 persons, which shall be discussed in more detail in Chapter 4. The fact remains beyond any doubt, however, that Serbs were in mass, and only because of being Serbs, deported to the prison camps where the living conditions were insufferable, on the one hand regarding the accommodation, nutrition and hygiene, and on the other hand regarding serious torture, humiliation and even killing of the inmates, many of them having experienced these camps as hell on earth.
The capacity of the said camps in view of the number of people who were imprisoned there, most often was even below the spacial minimum necessary for the most elementary survival. There is evidence that, for example, in the camp which was located in the primary school building in Odzak, one detainee was having less than one half of a square meter for himself!
Serbs - inmates, neither had the necessary minimum of food and water, so the daily rations they were receiving were one slice of bread and a cup of tea or of some so-called soup or stew. The inmates were placed in almost intolerable positions regarding the hygiene. They were often forced in the same room in which a large number of inmates were detained, highly overcrowded, to have their physiological needs and bowl movement and throughout the day to keep in that same closed room the buckets serving as a WC. The inmates were subjected to various kinds of torture at times so monstrous that a normal human mind can hardly perceive what a human invention can come up with, and tortures that were such that in some cases Serbs - the inmates were trying to take their own lives.
bout the said circumstances there will be more discussion further in this document when the most drastic kinds of torture, harassment and humiliation of civilian inmates of Serbian nationality in the prison camps of the area of Bosnian Posavina will be presented. It may be said that such treatment was in operation, with only some slight differences, also in the area of the entire so-called Bosnia and Herzegovina controlled by the Muslim and Croat armed forces.
It is necessary to point out here that already a special type of killing was conceived for the prison camp inmates of Serbian nationality, which had the following characteristics: taking of the inmates to a forced labor, beyond all the rules of the international law and this to the front battle lines, and during the time of most intensive combat actions, when they were used for digging trenches and construction of other fortification structures, for pulling out of the wounded and killed Croat and Muslim soldiers; and if they should stay alive, during the performance of such works, they were forced to attend the mutilation of the dead bodies of the Serbian fighters.
The witness 267/94-9, a former inmate of Brcko, states that the inmates from the prison camps in Orasje in Donja Mahala were digging trenches without any protection, that they were exposed from all the sides to the fire arm bullets and grenades, that they were carrying timber beams for kilometers, that they were not given any tools - "there were even persons who had to do the digging with their own fingers". According to his estimate, some 10% of inmates from Orasje and Bukova Greda were killed, and he himself had on the spot taken out 5-6 persons who were dead or wounded. Many inmates in this way had lost their lives, many were seriously wounded and only through fortunate circumstances remained alive.
GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS IN THE REGION OF BOSNIAN POSAVINA
(BRCKO, ORASJE, ODZAK AND BOSANSKI BROD)
1992 and 1993
***
3.0. DEPORTATION OF CIVILIAN POPULATION OF SERBIAN NATIONALITY
AND OF CAPTURED SERBS TO THE PRISON CAMPS, AND INHUMAN
TREATMENT, TORTURE AND KILLINGS
3.1. INTRODUCTION
During the year 1992 and onwards in the territories of the then-so-called Bosnia and Herzegovina which were under the control of the Muslim and Croat armed forces, a large number of prison camps and prisons were established for imprisonment of civilians of Serbian nationality who were expelled from their homes, and also for the imprisonment of the captured Serbs.
Thus, in the area of Bosnian Posavina a system of 35 prison camps was established (Brod-8, Brcko-19, Samac-1, Orasje-4 and Odzak-3) for Serbian civilian population. It may be said that almost the entire Bosnian Posavina was transformed into a prison camp for Serbs.
Concretely, the following prison camps were in existence:
in Brod: 1) Secondary school center "Fric Pavlik", 2) Tulek, warehouse of "Beograd" Department Stores, 3) storage of building material of the "GIK" company, 4) Krndija camp (facing the Fire Department), 5) camp along the Sava river (kayak club), 6) production hall of the stockings factory "Bosna", 7) camp in the building of the military police (a former "Jugobanka" building), and 8) city stadium of the "Polet" soccer club.
in Brcko: 9) Boderiste, "Interplet" factory hall, 10) Bosanska Bijela, town hall, 11) Bosanska Bijela, plum drying plant, 12) Bosanska Bijela, private houses, 13) Boce, primary school, 14) Boce, local community premises, 15) Gornji Zovik, building material storage, 16) Gornji Rahic, town hall, 17) Gornji Rahic, building material storage, 18) Gornji Rahic, drying plant in Okrajci, 19) Gornji Rahic, primary school, 20) garage in the nursery garden between Rahici and Maoca, 21) Donji Rahic, private houses, 22) Maoca, chicken farm, 23) Maoca, "Bolji zivot" cafe, 24) Palanka, local community library, 25) Rasljani, warehouse, 26) Ulice, primary school, and 27) Ulice, town hall.
in Samac: 28) village of Domaljevac, primary school
in Orasje: 29) secondary school center, 30) Donja Mahala, camp in the primary school, 31) Donja Mahala, shed of Mirza Filipovic called "Deljkovic", and
in Odzak: 32) Posavska Mahala, 33) primary school (the gym), 34) "Strolit" company, and 35) Novi Grad village.
In this document we will present evidence for some of the crimes committed in the prison camps in the area of the municipalities of Brcko, Orasje, Odzak and Bosanski Brod.
Immediately it must be said that at present there is no reliable evidence of a precise number of Serbs who have been taken from the year 1992 onwards to these camps. As an exception, there is a document entitle "The List of Detainees in Prison (school building)" in Odzak compiled by the authorities of the Croat Defense Council (HVO) listing 618 persons, which shall be discussed in more detail in Chapter 4. The fact remains beyond any doubt, however, that Serbs were in mass, and only because of being Serbs, deported to the prison camps where the living conditions were insufferable, on the one hand regarding the accommodation, nutrition and hygiene, and on the other hand regarding serious torture, humiliation and even killing of the inmates, many of them having experienced these camps as hell on earth.
The capacity of the said camps in view of the number of people who were imprisoned there, most often was even below the spacial minimum necessary for the most elementary survival. There is evidence that, for example, in the camp which was located in the primary school building in Odzak, one detainee was having less than one half of a square meter for himself!
Serbs - inmates, neither had the necessary minimum of food and water, so the daily rations they were receiving were one slice of bread and a cup of tea or of some so-called soup or stew. The inmates were placed in almost intolerable positions regarding the hygiene. They were often forced in the same room in which a large number of inmates were detained, highly overcrowded, to have their physiological needs and bowl movement and throughout the day to keep in that same closed room the buckets serving as a WC. The inmates were subjected to various kinds of torture at times so monstrous that a normal human mind can hardly perceive what a human invention can come up with, and tortures that were such that in some cases Serbs - the inmates were trying to take their own lives.
bout the said circumstances there will be more discussion further in this document when the most drastic kinds of torture, harassment and humiliation of civilian inmates of Serbian nationality in the prison camps of the area of Bosnian Posavina will be presented. It may be said that such treatment was in operation, with only some slight differences, also in the area of the entire so-called Bosnia and Herzegovina controlled by the Muslim and Croat armed forces.
It is necessary to point out here that already a special type of killing was conceived for the prison camp inmates of Serbian nationality, which had the following characteristics: taking of the inmates to a forced labor, beyond all the rules of the international law and this to the front battle lines, and during the time of most intensive combat actions, when they were used for digging trenches and construction of other fortification structures, for pulling out of the wounded and killed Croat and Muslim soldiers; and if they should stay alive, during the performance of such works, they were forced to attend the mutilation of the dead bodies of the Serbian fighters.
The witness 267/94-9, a former inmate of Brcko, states that the inmates from the prison camps in Orasje in Donja Mahala were digging trenches without any protection, that they were exposed from all the sides to the fire arm bullets and grenades, that they were carrying timber beams for kilometers, that they were not given any tools - "there were even persons who had to do the digging with their own fingers". According to his estimate, some 10% of inmates from Orasje and Bukova Greda were killed, and he himself had on the spot taken out 5-6 persons who were dead or wounded. Many inmates in this way had lost their lives, many were seriously wounded and only through fortunate circumstances remained alive.