Manjača was a camp for Croats, Bosniaks, and also Serbs who opposed the then-Serbian policy

LIČKO PETROVO SELO, (Patria) - Croatian police arrested Danu Lukaić today at the Ličko Petrovo Selo border crossing, suspected of war crimes, at a time when he was the commander of the Serbian concentration camp Manjača near Banja Luka, Croatian Radio Television reported.

Organized by the association "Jadovno 1941." from Banja Luka, a commemoration of those who perished in World War II is being held today in Jadovno and near Šaranova Jama on Velebit. These are victims from the complex of NDH camps Gospić – Jadovno – Pag.

The president of the association "Jadovno 1941." Dušan Bastašić said that there is not enough information about the Lukaić case, but that he considers him an honorable and honest man.

The president of the Association of Camp Detainees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jasmin Mešković, told the Patria agency that it is very important for judicial institutions to arrest and prosecute all those suspected of committing war crimes, and that only in this way can truth and reconciliation be achieved.

Mešković believes that no one should stand in defense of criminals, so that a clear message would be sent to all future generations.

The Manjača concentration camp was established at a military training ground above Banja Luka in 1991. At that time, it was used to detain captured Croats from the battlefields in Croatia. After the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the camp was used to receive detainees of Bosniak and Croat nationality from the occupied areas of the municipalities of Šipovo, Sanski Most, Ključ, Mrkonjić Grad, Prijedor, Kotor Varoš, Bosanska Krupa, Doboj, Banja Luka... Some Serbs who disagreed with the then political leadership of Bosnian Serbs and the policy from Belgrade were also imprisoned in the camp.

The Association of Camp Detainees in BiH states that around 5,000 detainees passed through the Manjača camp.

"Camp detainees were held in inhumane and animalistic conditions, in stables that were previously used to house livestock. They were beaten and abused daily. In this camp, as well as during the transport of detainees to and from the Manjača camp, about 80 detainees were killed."

A larger group of older and underage camp detainees from the Manjača camp was released on November 14, 1992. A month later, the camp was disbanded, only to be re-established shortly thereafter and remain operational until 1996, making it one of the longest-operating camps in the 1990s.