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Location: Čelebići, Konjic

The Čelebići detention camp had been a facility of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) in the Čelebići settlement near Konjic, established, according to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (hereinafter: ICTY), by Bosniak and Croat forces in mid-1992. Before the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: BiH), this facility was used by the JNA to store fuel and machinery. The complex covers about 50,000 square meters. As was established by the Court of BiH, numerous crimes against humanity were committed against Serb civilians in the territory of Konjic from April to December 1992, including persecution, murder, rape, imprisonment and torture. In the 1991 census, the population of Konjic municipality was 43,878, of which 54.7 percent were Bosniaks, 26.2 percent Croats and 15 percent Serbs. In the 2013 census, the number of Bosniaks increased to 89.4 percent, and now there are 6.2 percent Croats and 1.4 percent Serbs, which results from the systematic wartime persecution.

According to the judgments, 240 people were detained in the camp, of which six were tortured and 48 were killed. Most of the crimes were committed by camp guards, who, according to the ICTY judgment, were in command of the camp as members of the Territorial Defence Municipal Headquarters in Konjic, the sabotage-reconnaissance detachment Akrepi, as well as of the police force.

Three people were convicted by the ICTY of crimes committed in the Čelebići camp: Hazim Delić, Esad Landžo and Zdravko Mucić, while Zejnil Delalić was acquitted. Delić, Landžo and Mucić were sentenced to a total of 42 years in prison. Esad Ramić, Omer Borić, Šefik Nikšić, Adnan Alikadić, Mitko Pirkić, Redžo Balić, Hamed Lukomirak, Safaudin Ćosić, Muhamed Cakić, Ismet Hebibović, Enes Jahić, Senadin Ćibo and Željko Šimunović are currently being tried before the Court of BiH for crimes committed against Serb civilian population in the territory of Konjic.

It is noteworthy that the case Mucić et al. (IT-96-21) at the ICTY was the first to define rape as a form of torture, ultimately enabling the development of case law of prosecuting the crime of rape committed during the war in BiH. Furthermore, this case was the first to establish command responsibility, specifically of camp commander Zdravko Mucić, who failed to prevent torture, rape, murder and other crimes against humanity.

The facility is currently under the competence of BiH Armed Forces.

From May to November 1992, according to the ICTY judgment, deputy commander of Čelebići camp, later camp commander, Hazim Delić, raped two women detainees during interrogations in the camp.

Grozdana Ćećez, from a settlement near Konjic, was taken to the Čelebići camp on 27 May 1992. After her arrival, Hazim Delić, in the presence of two other men, raped her on two occasions. Grozdana Ćećez described the consequences of the torture she endured, saying: “…He trampled on my pride and I will never be able to be the woman that I was.” During her testimony, she told the court: “Psychologically and physically I was completely worn out. They kill you psychologically.” She was released from the camp on 31 August 1992. 

The location of the Čelebići camp is quite inaccessible today because it is a military facility run by the BiH Armed Forces; however, that does not prevent survivors and associations of former camp detainees from visiting the former camp. Annual visits and a single day when the gates of the former infamous camp are open are not the best demonstrations of reverence for the many victims of this place. The single day when the doors of this facility open to commemorate the suffering in it thus becomes a marginalised event, which ultimately affects the recovery of the survivors and their efforts to preserve the broader memory of the crimes committed in the Čelebići camp.

An additional obstacle to marking this place and reminding of its wartime purpose in BiH is the fact that the facility is currently used as a barracks of the BiH Armed Forces and any access must be announced to and formally approved by the BiH Armed Forces. Facilities such as this should rather be open to the public to preserve the memory of the victims’ suffering and spread awareness of the atrocities committed.