Velepromet camp
Velepromet camp | |
---|---|
Detention camp | |
prisoners of war | |
Number of inmates | Up to 10,000 |
Killed | Number greatly vary
|
The Velepromet camp was a detention facility established in the final days of the Battle of Vukovar during the Croatian War of Independence. The camp was set up by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which shared control of the facility with Croatian Serb rebels. The facility, originally an industrial storage site, was located on the southern outskirts of the city of Vukovar, in close proximity to the JNA barracks. It consisted of eight warehouses surrounded by a wire fence, and was established on 16 November 1991, when the first detainees were brought there.
A few days after the end of the Battle of Vukovar, there were 2,000 detainees in the camp. Detainees usually spent several days in the camp, during which some of them were interrogated, beaten and killed. Up to 10,000 detainees passed through the camp before it was closed in March 1992, when the United Nations Protection Force deployed to the area. Anywhere between 15 and 800 inmates may have been killed at the camp, though the latter figure includes approximately 700 people who are missing and presumed dead. The events in the camp formed part of three indictments issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. As of 2014[update], two of the trials are ongoing, while the trial of Slobodan Milošević was terminated following his death.
Background
In 1990, following the
After a bloodless skirmish between Serb insurgents and
The second half of 1991 saw the fiercest fighting of the war, as the 1991 Yugoslav campaign in Croatia culminated in the Siege of Dubrovnik,[13] and the Battle of Vukovar. The Battle of Vukovar ended on 18 November, when the JNA captured the city after nearly three months of fighting.[14] At the same time, Croatian Serb authorities began systematically expelling non-Serb civilians from areas under their control. The expulsions in the area of eastern Slavonia were primarily motivated by the aim of changing the ethnic composition in favour of Serbs as well as the resettling of Serb refugees who had fled western Slavonia following Operation Swath-10 by the Croatian Army.[15]
Timeline
The Velepromet storage facility is located on the southern edge of Vukovar, in the Sajmište city district,[16] a few hundred metres from the JNA barracks.[17] It consists of eight sheet metal warehouses, surrounded by a wire fence. A brickyard was located just beyond the perimeter fence,[18] 50 metres (160 feet) away.[19] The Velepromet storage facility was turned into a detention camp when the first detainees were brought there on 16 November, during the final days of the Battle of Vukovar, shortly after the JNA captured the Sajmište district.[16] It served as a detention facility where the JNA and various paramilitary groups held Croats before they were transported to prison camps in Serbia or they were executed nearby.[20] The site was within the area of responsibility of the JNA 2nd Assault Detachment, commanded by Major Branislav Lukić, the commanding officer of the JNA garrison in Vukovar,[21] but the camp security was provided by Croatian Serb TO, volunteers and by JNA military police.[22]
After the Battle of Vukovar, the JNA and its allied forces started taking all civilians remaining in Vukovar to the Velepromet camp,[23] transferring them from various shelters elsewhere in the city.[24] About 11:00 on 19 November, Cyrus Vance and Herbert S. Okun toured Vukovar on a United Nations fact-finding mission. They were given an escorted tour of several sites in or near the city, including the Velepromet camp,[25] before departing for Belgrade at 13:00.[26]
According to the
Upon arrival at the facility, some of the prisoners were selected for beatings or execution. Survivors reported that some of the detainees were escorted to the brickyard, from which shots could be heard, and those detainees were not seen again. One surviving prisoner later reported that he witnessed the killing of one prisoner in the camp itself, when Serbian paramilitaries slit the victim's throat in front of detainees.
Detainees were generally kept in the Velepromet camp for three to four days before being transferred to Sremska Mitrovica.[23] It is estimated that up to 10,000 civilians and prisoners of war passed through the Velepromet camp before the camp was closed down in March 1992, when the United Nations Protection Force deployed to the area.[31] According to survivors, up to 800 were killed there, although a large number of those deaths are unconfirmed and many are considered missing.[23] The figure includes 700 missing and presumed dead as of 2009[update].[31] Seventeen victims were buried in graves within the detention facility itself.[17] According to the Croatian Government, about 350 inmates did not leave the camp alive. This figure was repeated by Croatian lawyers in March 2014, during the trial phase of the Croatia–Serbia genocide case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Serbia's legal team maintained that the figure of 350 killed is exaggerated, but conceded that crimes had been committed in the camp. Based on the findings of the ICTY, the ICJ found that at least 15 inmates had been killed at Velepromet, but stated that it was impossible for the court to determine the exact number of deaths.[32]
Aftermath
The events in the Velepromet camp formed part of three different ICTY indictments, although none resulted in a conviction. In the
The site of the Velepromet camp is marked by a commemorative plaque, and there is a wreath-laying ceremony each November at the site. The compound was restored to is original use as a storage facility.[23]
Footnotes
- ^ Hoare 2010, p. 117.
- ^ Hoare 2010, p. 118.
- ^ The New York Times & 19 August 1990.
- ^ ICTY & 12 June 2007.
- ^ Hoare 2010, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Ramet 2006, pp. 384–385.
- ^ a b Hoare 2010, p. 119.
- ^ Engelberg & 3 March 1991.
- ^ Sudetic & 2 April 1991.
- ^ EECIS 1999, pp. 272–278.
- ^ Bellamy & 10 October 1992.
- ^ Narodne novine & 8 October 1991.
- ^ Bjelajac & Žunec 2009, pp. 249–250.
- ^ Sudetic & 18 November 1991.
- ^ Burns & 10 May 1992.
- ^ a b Index & 20 November 2010.
- ^ a b c d Brammertz & 22 July 2011, p. 11.
- ^ HRT & 28 October 1999.
- ^ a b ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 65.
- ^ Ajduković & Čorkalo 2004, p. 302, n. 6.
- ^ ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 41.
- ^ a b c ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 69.
- ^ a b c d Kroeger & 20 November 2001.
- ^ ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 145.
- ^ ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 73.
- ^ ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 74.
- ^ a b Del Ponte & 7 December 2007, p. 8.
- ^ ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 67.
- ^ ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 243.
- ^ ICTY & 27 September 2007, p. 66.
- ^ a b Nova TV & 20 November 2009.
- ^ ICJ & 3 February 2015, p. 76.
- ^ Del Ponte & 23 October 2002.
- ^ Simons & 15 March 2006.
- ^ "Trial Judgement in the case of Vojislav Šešelj delivered". International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 31 March 2016.
References
- Books
- Ajduković, Dean; Čorkalo, Dinka (2004). "Trust and betrayal in war". In Stover, Eric; Weinstein, Harvey M. (eds.). My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity. Cambridge, England: ISBN 978-0-521-54264-7.
- Bjelajac, Mile; Žunec, Ozren (2009). "The War in Croatia, 1991–1995". In Ingrao, Charles W.; Emmert, Thomas Allan (eds.). Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative. West Lafayette, Indiana: ISBN 978-1-55753-533-7.
- Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. London, England: Routledge. 1999. ISBN 978-1-85743-058-5.
- ISBN 978-1-139-48750-4.
- Ramet, Sabrina P. (2006). The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building And Legitimation, 1918–2006. Bloomington, Indiana: ISBN 978-0-253-34656-8.
- News reports
- Bellamy, Christopher (10 October 1992). "Croatia built 'web of contacts' to evade weapons embargo". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012.
- Burns, John F. (10 May 1992). "The Demographics of Exile: Victorious Serbs Repopulate Croatian Villages". The New York Times.
- "Danteov pakao je amaterski za logor u Veleprometu" [Dante's Inferno Was an Amateur Affair Compared to the Velepromet Camp]. Dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). Nova TV (Croatia). 20 November 2009.
- Engelberg, Stephen (3 March 1991). "Belgrade Sends Troops to Croatia Town". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013.
- Kroeger, Alix (20 November 2001). "Croatian town remembers its dead". BBC News.
- "Odana počast ubijenima i nestalima u vukovarskom logoru Velepromet" [Dead and Missing of Vukovar's Velepromet Camp Honoured] (in Croatian). 20 November 2010.
- "Roads Sealed as Yugoslav Unrest Mounts". The New York Times. Reuters. 19 August 1990. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013.
- Simons, Marlise (15 March 2006). "Milosevic's Trial Ends but Inquiries Continue". The New York Times.
- Sudetic, Chuck (18 November 1991). "Croats Concede Danube Town's Loss". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2013.
- Sudetic, Chuck (2 April 1991). "Rebel Serbs Complicate Rift on Yugoslav Unity". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013.
- Suvaković, Zorana (28 January 2014). "The politics of justice at The Hague". Al Jazeera.
- "Vukovar: Suđenje optuženima za zločin protiv čovječnosti" [Vukovar: Trial of defendants charged with crimes against humanity] (in Croatian). Croatian Radiotelevision. 28 October 1999.
- Other sources
- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
- Del Ponte, Carla (23 October 2002). "The Prosecutor of the Tribunal against Slobodan Milosevic - Second Amended Indictment". International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
- Del Ponte, Carla (7 December 2007). "The Prosecutor of the Tribunal against Vojislav Šešelj" (PDF). International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
- "Odluka" [Decision]. ISSN 1333-9273.
- "Judgement on the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia)" (PDF). International Court of Justice. 3 February 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- "The Prosecutor vs. Milan Martic – Judgement" (PDF). International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 12 June 2007.
- "The Prosecutor v. Mile Mrkšić, Miroslav Radić, Veselin Šljivančanin - Public Judgment" (PDF). International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. 27 September 2007.