The Trnopolje concentration camp was established by Bosnian Serb military and police authorities in the village of Trnopolje near the city of Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first months of the Bosnian Genocide. The camp kept a large a number of Bosniak and Croat civilians, many of which were tortured, raped and killed.
The concentration camp operated between May and November of 1992. It was closed chiefly due to the international pressure. The total number of camp inmates reportedly varied on average between 4,000 and 7,000 people. Approximately 1,000 detainees were killed, including more than 200 civilian prisoners that were taken from the camp, brought to Koricani cliffs on Mount Vlasic, ordered to kneel and then systematically executed.
Badly emaciated, starving, ribs and bones protruding Bosniak civilians in the Trnopolje concentration camp during the Bosnian Genocide in August of 1992. (Credit: Ron Haviv. Blood and Honey.)
Bones and ribs protruding through the skin of the emaciated Bosniak civilians in the Trnopolje concentration camp in August of 1992. (Credit: Ron Haviv, Blood and Honey).
In Prosecutor v Slobodan Milosevic, the International Criminal Tribunal rejected “motion for judgment of acquittal” and concluded that Genocide occurred in seven Bosnian municipalities, including Prijedor where the Trnopolje concentration camp was located. On 16 June 2004, the Court ruled:
“On the basis of the inference that may be drawn from this evidence, a Trial Chamber could be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that there existed a joint criminal enterprise, which included members of the Bosnian Serb leadership, whose aim and intention was to destroy a part of the Bosnian Muslim population, and that genocide was in fact committed in Brcko, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Srebrenica, Bijeljina, Kljuc and Bosanski Novi.”
Screenshot of a starving/emaciated Bosniak civilian, Fikret Alic, inside of the barbed-wired Trnopolje concentration camp near Prijedor in August of 1992. Source: ITN / Video.
Emaciated ribs of a Bosniak civilian, Fikret Alic, inside of the barbed-wired Trnopolje concentration camp near Prijedor in August of 1992. Source: ITN / Video.
A Bosniak woman and her child in the Trnopolje concentration camp in August of 1992. Women and underage girls, on some occasions even toddlers, were kept in the camp and brutally gang raped, tortured and killed by Serb forces in one of the most brutal camps used in the Bosnian Genocide. (Photographer: Patrick Robert)
Woman (left) and man (right), one of several thousand civilians imprisoned in the Trnopolje concentration camp. (Photo source: The International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague).
Civilian detainees in the Trnopolje concentration camp. (Photo provided by the International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague)
After international pressure mounted, Serb authorities finally allowed British TV crews to enter the Trnopolje concentration camp in August, 1992 and record the ongoing brutality carried against the Bosniak civilians in the 1992-95 Bosnian Genocide. (Photo by the International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague)
Badly tortured prisoners were were removed from the Trnopolje concentration camp before British TV crews entered, but Dr. Idriz Merdzanic managed to smuggle some photos of brutal beatings and abuse in the camp. (Photo courtesy: The International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague)
Badly tortured prisoners were were removed from the Trnopolje concentration camp before British TV crews entered, but Dr. Idriz Merdzanic managed to smuggle some photos of brutal beatings and abuse in the camp. (Photo courtesy: The International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague)
This covert photograph shows Bosniak civilian from the village of Hrnici, with ribs and bones protruding through his skin, in the Trnopolje concentration camp. Badly tortured prisoners were were removed from the Trnopolje concentration camp before British TV crews entered, but Dr. Idriz Merdzanic managed to smuggle some photos of brutal beatings and abuse in the camp. (Photo courtesy: The International Criminal Tribunal at the Hague)
Dying Bosniak civilian in the Serb-run Trnopolje concentration camp near Prijedor, Bosnia, in August 1992. Photographer: Pascal Le Segretain.
