Heliodrom camp | |
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Prison camp | |
![]() Camp model exhibited in the Museum of Crimes against Humanity and Genocide. | |
Coordinates | 43°20′46″N17°48′52″E / 43.34611°N 17.81444°E /43.34611; 17.81444 |
Location | Rodoč,Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Operated by | Croatian Defence Council and Military Police |
Operational | September 1992 – April 1994 |
Inmates | Bosniaks andBosnian Serbs, other non-Croats |
Killed | 31[1]–54[2] |
TheHeliodrom camp (Serbo-Croatian:Logor Heliodrom,Логор Хелиодром) orHeliodrom prison[3] was adetention camp[4] that operated between September 1992 and April 1994. It was run by the Military Police of theCroatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to detainBosniaks,Serbs, and other non-Croats and was located at a former military facility of the JNA inRodoč, south of the town ofMostar.[2][5]
The camp consisted of a sports hall and a three-story central prison building.[6] Conditions at the Heliodrom camp were inhumane, with severeovercrowding, inadequate medical and sanitary facilities, insufficient food and water, inadequate ventilation, and in the summer,suffocating heat. Detainees often slept on concrete floors with no bedding or blankets. On some occasions, HVO guards withheld all food and water from the detainees, in retaliation for HVO military setbacks.[2]
Herceg-Bosna/HVO forces regularly mistreated andabused, and allowed the mistreatment and abuse of, Bosniak detainees, both at the Heliodrom itself and at various locations where detainees were taken forforced labour or other purposes. There was regular cruel treatment and infliction of great suffering, with HVO soldiers and guards routinely beating detainees, often to the point of unconsciousness and severe injuries. Bosniak detainees lived in constant fear of physical and mental abuse. Bosniak detainees were often humiliated in various ways, including being forced to sing nationalistic Croatian songs.[2] On 5 July 1993, HVO members fired indiscriminately at the building in which the detainees were being held. It is not known whether there were injuries.[7]
Bosniak men were held and continued to be detained at the Heliodrom camp without anybona fide or adequate effort by the Herceg-Bosna/HVO authorities or forces to distinguish, classify or separate military prisoners from civilian detainees, or to provide for the release of civilian detainees.[2]
In thePrlić et al. case, the Chamber found that several dozen detainees onforced labour were killed or wounded due to military confrontation while working on the front line.[8] It also found that at least three Bosniak detainees were injured and four were killed while being used ashuman shields in combat.[9] The Prosecution claimed in the indictment that at least fifty-four Bosniak detainees died as a result of being detained at this facility[10] and at least 178 were wounded on forced labor or as human shields.[2][11]
Jadranko Prlić,Bruno Stojić,Slobodan Praljak,Milivoj Petković,Valentin Corić, andBerislav Pušić were all charged with being part of ajoint criminal enterprise from November 1991 to April 1994 to ethnically cleanse non-Croats from certain areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The indictment states that members of the enterprise (along with the HVO) set up and ran a network of prison camps, including the Heliodrom camp andDretelj camp, to arrest, detain and imprison thousands of Bosniaks. Bosniaks in the camps were allegedlystarved and subjected to "physical and psychological abuse, including beatings andsexual assaults".[2][12]
The six accused were charged on the basis of both their individual and superior criminal responsibility under Articles 7(1) and 7(3) of the Statute respectively for:[2]