THREE DECADES SINCE CLOSURE OF SILOS - NOTORIOUS CAMP FOR SERBS

HADŽIĆI, JANUARY 27 /SRNA/ – The concentration camp Silos in Tarčin near Sarajevo, where more than 600 Serb civilians were detained and where 24 died as a result of physical abuse, beatings, torture and starvation, was closed 30 years ago, a full two months after the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed.

Silos, a concentration camp for Serbs run by the so-called Army of BiH, was opened on May 11, 1992, in a facility that had served as a wheat storage site before the war, and was closed on January 27, 1996, on Saint Sava's Day.

The camp was one of a total of 126 camps in the area of wartime Sarajevo, and mainly held civilians from Tarčin, Pazarić and other nearby areas.

The youngest detained civilian was fourteen-year-old Leo Kapetanović, while the oldest was Vaso Šarenac, who was over 85 years old and died in Silos, where the temperature was always about 10 degrees lower than the outside temperature.

Women were also subjected to torture, including one who was six months pregnant.

CHILDREN, WOMEN AND ELDERLY WERE NOT SPARED TORTURE IN SILOS

Serb detainees who survived the horrific torture testified that officials of the wartime government of the so-called RBiH visited Silos and were aware of what was happening inside the camp.

Former Silos Serb inmate Đorđo Šuvajlo previously told SRNA that the crimes committed in the Tarčin silo were directly the responsibility of the then president of the Muslim municipality of Hadžići Mustafa Đelilović and the commander of the 9th Mountain Brigade of the so-called Army of BiH Nezir Kazić, along with their associates.

According to testimony by former detainees, Silos had all the characteristics of the notorious Auschwitz.

Former Silos detainee Radojka Pandurević earlier told SRNA that wartime Muslim leader Alija Izetbegović had twice been in the vicinity of Silos.

Former detainee Slavko Jovičić Slavuj, now deceased, was released from Silos on January 27, 1996.

He previously testified that Silos was a laboratory for testing human endurance, where Muslim soldiers and guards viewed prisoners as animals, beating them daily, torturing them in various ways, starving them to death and poisoning them with different medications.

"May such suffering and torture never be repeated anywhere in the world, suffering and torture that the world and modern civilization will never be able to comprehend or understand," Jovičić said at the time. He later served as a member of the BiH Parliament.

The detainees learned of the camp's closure from representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

They began leaving the camp on January 26, 1996, while the final 42 prisoners were released the following day, when the doors of this dungeon were finally closed.

SIX PERPETRATORS SENTENCED TO 42 YEARS FOR CRIMES IN SILOS

On November 24, 2011, several members of the so-called Army of BiH were arrested on suspicion of participating in crimes and the persecution of the Serb population in the Sarajevo municipality of Hadžići.

The following year, on April 19, trial proceedings began before the Court of BiH in Sarajevo against eight members of the so-called Army of BiH accused of unlawful arrests, torture, killings and inhumane treatment of Serb civilians in the Silos camp.

The accused were Mustafa Đelilović, Fadil Čović, Mirsad Šabić, Nezir Kazić, Bećir Hujić, Halid Čović, Šerif Mešanović and Nermin Kalember.

The trial attracted significant public interest, not only from families of the victims but also from media across BiH and the wider region.

In July 2021, the Court of BiH delivered a second-instance verdict sentencing six of the defendants to a total of 42 years in prison for crimes against civilians.

Former commander of the 9th Mountain Brigade of the so-called Army of BiH Nezir Kazić was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Former chief of the Hadžići Public Security Station Fadil Čović and former camp warden of Silos in Tarčin /until August 1994/ Bećir Hujić were each sentenced to eight years.

Commander of the Pazarić Police Station Mirsad Šabić was sentenced to six years, while former Silos warden /from August 1994/ Halid Čović and former guard Nermin Kalember were each sentenced to five years.

The six were convicted of unlawful detention and inhumane treatment of Serb and Croat civilians detained in Silos, the Krupa barracks in Zovik, and the 9th of May Primary School in Pazarić, as well as for denying detainees the right to a trial and forcing civilians into compulsory labor.