Prisoners used as human shields from Heliodrom camp

The Heliodrom camp south of Mostar was a detention camp established by the politics and military of Herceg-Bosna during the conflict between the Army of RBiH and HVO from 1993 to 1994.

Two decades later, August 15th is marked as the day when Bosniaks from Ljubuški were loaded onto trucks and imprisoned in the camp, from which many never emerged, writes the Patria News Agency.

The camp was located near Rodoč, in Herzegovina, which was previously used only as an HVO helipad, whose helicopter hangars and garages were repurposed into prison cells.

According to the indictment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), HVO members began holding Bosniak men in the camp from 1992 until mid-1994. The number of prisoners was approximately around 1,800 in May 1993, dropping to about 500 in June.

According to the indictment, the HVO arrested hundreds of Bosniak civilians living in western Mostar and took them to Heliodrom, and with the worsening of the Bosniak-Croat conflict, another thousand Bosniaks were arrested across Herzegovina. Although women were released, the HVO did not distinguish between civilian and military prisoners.

Prisoners were subjected to psychological and physical abuse. In the most severe cases, they were forced to walk in front of HVO forces as human shields. According to estimates, at least 54 prisoners died in the camp, and 178 were wounded. The HVO's criteria for releasing prisoners were marriage to a Croat woman or possession of a visa and a letter of guarantee that they would leave BiH.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has so far convicted Marko Radić, Dragan Sunjić, Damir Brekalo, and Mirko Vračević for the Heliodrom camp. They were members of the 7th Brigade of the HVO. They were sentenced to 25, 21, 20, and 14 years in prison, reports NAP.