23,000 civilians passed through Trnopolje camp: Photos of starved prisoners behind barbed wire as a symbol of horrors

(Patria) - At the site of the former "Trnopolje" camp near Prijedor today, starting at 10:00 AM, the 33rd anniversary of the camp's formation and the crimes committed against its prisoners will be commemorated.

The commemoration is organized by the Association of Camp Survivors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Regional Association of Camp Survivors Associations of the Banja Luka region, the Association of Camp Survivors "Prijedor ‘92", and the Association of Camp Survivors Kozarac.

The event will include a program and a visit to the site of the former camp, in memory of thousands of innocent people detained and killed during 1992, announced the Association of Camp Survivors.

The "Trnopolje" camp was established on May 26, 1992, by decision of the then Crisis Staff of the Prijedor municipality.

Its first detainees were from the Kozarac area after the capture of that town.

Approximately 23,000 civilians, mostly elderly people, women, and children, passed through this camp, which was under the control of the then-Serb authorities. No other camp in former Yugoslavia held so many detainees.

The Trnopolje camp was discovered on August 5, 1992, by British journalists who took photos of abused and starved prisoners behind barbed wire, which would later be used as evidence in trials for war crimes committed in BiH.

The camp was guarded by armed guards, and the manager was Slobodan Kuruzović.

Among these images, the photograph of Fikret Alić stands out, which became one of the symbols of wartime suffering in BiH.

Following the Serb attack on the village of Hambarine on May 23 and during the attack on Kozarac, which began on May 24, several concentration camps and other places of illegal detention of civilians were established in the Prijedor municipality, with Omarska, Keraterm, and Trnopolje being the most notorious for the crimes committed within them.

In the genocidal project of creating a single-ethnic Serb state, which was intended to include the Prijedor municipality, more than 31,000 Bosniak and Croat civilians passed through these camps.

In one of the United Nations reports, it is stated about the Trnopolje camp: "Murders and torture were not uncommon in the Trnopolje camp. Harassment and mistreatment were the rule, not the exception. Among the severe crimes committed against detainees, rape was the most frequent. These atrocities were most often carried out at night. Nighttime terror due to potential abduction for rape or other forms of abuse caused serious mental suffering, even to those prisoners who stayed in the camp for a short time. Many detainees never returned after being taken away from the camp. Other former camp inmates claim that there were times when they were ordered to bury non-Serbs, who had been killed, in the fields and meadows around the camp."

The organizers announce that during the commemoration, they will highlight the insufficient institutional support for camp survivors, as well as the continuation of the fight for the recognition of their rights.

Special attention will be paid to the case of Fikret Alić, whose legal battle for recognition as a victim of wartime torture has recently seen a positive turn, after the Supreme Court of Republika Srpska overturned a previous rejection ruling and ordered a new review of his request.

Furthermore, the recent verdict of the Court of BiH, which for the first time convicted a person for denying genocide and glorifying war criminals, will be highlighted as an important step towards a responsible attitude towards the past.

The Association of Camp Survivors of BiH states that they will continue to act consistently in spreading the truth and preserving memory, with a clear message:

There is no reconciliation without truth, nor a future without justice. Let it not be forgotten - let it not be repeated - stated the Regional Association of Camp Survivors Associations of the Banja Luka region, the Association of Camp Survivors "Prijedor ‘92", and the Association of Camp Survivors Kozarac.