30 YEARS LATER: Thousands of detainees tortured, raped, humiliated in Omarska camp...

(Patria) - On Saturday, August 6, 2022, the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Omarska death camp near Prijedor will be marked. On that day 30 years ago, thanks to journalists from ITN and The Guardian, the world had the first opportunity to see the emaciated bodies of the Omarska camp inmates. The dissolution of the Omarska camp began on August 6, 1992, with the transfer of surviving inmates from Omarska to the Manjača and Trnopolje camps.

"Omarska was not a place where inmates were sporadically treated cruelly or where living conditions were simply difficult. It was a hellish environment in which men and women were deprived of the most basic necessities of life and humanity. Omarska was a place where people were beaten daily and with the use of devilish torture methods. No one could be mistaken that Omarska was merely a poorly run prison – it was a criminal enterprise that systematically functioned in a way that destroyed the minds, bodies, and spirits of the people imprisoned there." – states the judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the case of "Kvocka and others".

The formation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague was due to the crimes committed in the Omarska camp. The first trial and the first verdict before the Hague Tribunal were precisely for the crimes committed in this camp. Due to mass rape in this camp against imprisoned female detainees, rape was characterized as a war crime for the first time in judicial practice. Over 3,334 inmates were detained in the Omarska camp, and around 700 Omarska inmates were killed.

The organizers of the gathering are the Regional Association of Camp Inmates of the Banja Luka region, the Association of Camp Inmates "Prijedor 92", and the Association of Camp Inmates "Kozarac", with the support of the Association of Camp Inmates in BiH.