Perpetrators of crimes in the Keraterm camp still walk free

(Patria) - On Wednesday, July 24, 2024, the 32nd anniversary of the Keraterm death camp in Prijedor will be marked.

On that day, on the night of July 24, 1992, a massacre was carried out in the Keraterm camp, which the Hague prosecution describes as "one of the single worst crimes committed during the Bosnian war." The remains of the victims were exhumed from mass graves at Stari Kevljani, Jakarina Kosa, and Tomašica.

The Keraterm concentration camp was established by the Crisis Staff of the Prijedor municipality. From its opening on May 24 until its closure on August 5, approximately 3,000 civilians of Bosniak and Croatian ethnicity passed through the concentration camp.

To date, 371 killed camp inmates have been documented. The largest number of victims, 350, are from the left bank of the Sana River, specifically the Mataruško Brdo area. By individual settlements, the highest number of killed inmates is from Rakovčani with 103, Čarakovo 79, Hambarine 76...

The Keraterm camp was located within a former ceramics factory. According to reports, prisoners were held in four rooms that were once used as factory warehouses. Most of the men were between the ages of 15 and 60.

At one point, several women were also detained in the camp. In one of the proceedings before the Hague tribunal, protected witness H. testified about the abuse in the Keraterm camp. Nine individuals from Prijedor have been convicted for crimes committed in the Keraterm camp.

Those convicted before the Hague tribunal are:

1. Duško Sikirica - camp commander, sentenced to 15 years in prison
2. Zoran Žigić - guard commander, sentenced to 25 years
3. Duško Tadić - guard, sentenced to 20 years
4. Predrag Banović - guard, sentenced to 8 years
5. Dragan Kolundžija - shift commander, sentenced to 3 years
6. Damir Došen - shift commander, sentenced to 5 years
7. Milojica Kos - convicted, among other crimes, for Keraterm, sentenced to 8 years
Those convicted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina are:
1. Dušan Fuštar - shift commander, sentenced to 9 years
2. Duško Knežević - without official position, sentenced to 31 years in prison
Crimes committed in the Keraterm camp were also part of the indictments against convicted war criminals:
1. Biljana Plavšić - sentenced to 11 years
2. Momčilo Krajišnik - sentenced to 20 years
3. Radoslav Brđanin - sentenced to 30 years
4. Mićo Stanišić - sentenced to 22 years
5. Stojan Župljanin - sentenced to 22 years

All those convicted, except for two guards, were convicted under command responsibility, meaning that the direct perpetrators of the crimes, the murderers, have not yet been prosecuted.

The visit is organized by the Association of Camp Inmates in BiH, the Regional Association of Camp Inmates of the Banja Luka region, and the camp inmate associations "Prijedor '92" and Kozarac.