REPARATION FOR ABUSE IN SERBIA'S CONCENTRATION CAMPS AFTER THE FALL OF SREBRENICA AND ZEPA

Concentration Camp Mitrovo Polje in Serbia in which Serbian authorities held and abused Bosniaks from eastern Bosnia after the fall of the enclave of Zepa in July 1995.

Serbian court has awarded a shameful sum of $4,800 euros to a Bosniak civilian Mujo Vatres for abuse he suffered at the hands of Serbian authorities in concentration camp on a territory of Serbia. Two former prisoners were refused reparations.

After the fall of beleaguered enclave of Zepa (near Srebrenica) in July 1995, Vatres fled over the river Drina into Serbia hoping to find protection from Serb force who were busy slaughtering 8,000 men and boys of Srebrenica. Instead of reaching Red Cross, he was arrested by Serbian police. Around 400 other civilians who fled eastern Bosnia met the same fate. They ended in two concentration camps -- Mitrovo Polje and Sljivovica.

The conditions in these camps were horrific. Abuse was rampant. Many people disappeared and were never accounted for. According to Vatres,

"I had 103 pounds, and my weight dropped to 53 pounds. They were beating us, subjecting us to interrogation, scare tactics, fear and so on. I was traumatized there very much... Even today I can feel  consequences of the trauma. They were interrogating us in the evening, four to five hours, but not so much during the day. When they wanted to beat us, they would call us one by one, and then they would pound us and strike us, and drop us in the room and so on. It was a horrific  suffering, nothing in life could get worse..."

With the help of Red Cross, Vatres was sent to the United States where he received medical help for his neuropsychiatric traumas.

The Humanitarian Law Centre in 2011 filed criminal charges to the war crimes prosecutor’s office against 50 former members of the Serbian police, state security service and the army for committing war crimes against prisoners of war from July 1995 to April 1996.

They are accused of being responsible for the killings, torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners in the Sljivovica and Mitrovo Polje concentration camps.

The Serbian prosecutor for war crimes hasn’t responded to the charges yet.

Serbia refuses to recognize Mitrovo Polje and Sljivovica as concentration camps, but here are some photos from Serb-run concentration camps in Bosnia.