Omarska | |
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Death camp | |
Location of Omarska in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Coordinates | 44°51′09″N 16°52′58″E / 44.85250°N 16.88278°ECoordinates: 44°51′09″N 16°52′58″E / 44.85250°N 16.88278°E |
Location | Omarska, Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Operated by | Bosnian Serb forces |
Operational | 25 May – 21 August 1992 (2 months, 3 weeks and 6 days) |
Inmates | Bosniaks and Croats |
Number of inmates | c. 6,000 |
Killed | 700 |
The Omarska camp was a death camp run by Bosnian Serb forces in the mining town of Omarska, near Prijedor in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, set up for Bosniak and Croat men and women during the Prijedor massacre. Functioning in the first months of the Bosnian War in 1992, it was one of 677 alleged detention centers and camps set up throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war. While nominally an "investigation center" or "assembly point" for members of the Bosniak and Croatian population,Human Rights Watch classified Omarska as a concentration camp.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, located in The Hague, has found several individuals guilty of crimes against humanity perpetrated at Omarska. Murder, torture, rape, and abuse of prisoners was common. Around 6,000 Bosniaks and Croats were held in appalling conditions at the camp for about five months in the spring and summer of 1992, including 37 women. Hundreds died of starvation, punishment beatings and ill-treatment.
Omarska was a predominantly Serb village in northwestern Bosnia, near the town of Prijedor. The camp in the village existed from about 25 May to about 21 August 1992, when the Bosnian Serb military and police unlawfully segregated, detained and confined some of more than 7,000 Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats captured in the ethnic cleansing of Prijedor. Bosnian Serb authorities termed it an "investigation center" and the detainees were accused of alleged paramilitary activities.