Location: Foča, Partizan

The "Partizan" sports hall in Foča was one of the most notorious places of detention where women and girls were raped during the war in BiH. From April 1992 to March 1993, this sports facility was under the control of the Army of the Republika Srpska (hereinafter: VRS).

The crimes committed in "Partizan" were not isolated cases, but part of a wider systematic undertaking of ethnic cleansing in and around Foča. Various forms of war crimes, including mass rapes, deportations, kidnappings, murders, detention in camps and other forms of inhumane treatment of civilians of non-Serb nationality, have been judicially established in connection with the area of Foča municipality. The victims were from the area of Foča, a city that before the war had a population of 40,513 inhabitants, of which 51.6 percent were Bosniaks. According to the 2013 census, 18,288 inhabitants live in Foča, and Bosniaks make up approximately 7 percent of the population. This difference is caused by the systematic persecution of the population and carrying out of terror against the citizens of Foča during the war.

The exact number of victims is unknown, but it is estimated that hundreds of women and girls were raped and sexually abused. The youngest victim was 11 and the oldest 70. 

Five persons were sentenced to a total of 76 years in prison before the ICTY and the Court of BiH for crimes related to the "Partizan" facility. Among those convicted are: Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovač, Zoran Vuković, Gojko Janković and Jasko Gazdić. The judgments of the ICTY, as well as of domestic courts, also determined a number of other locations in the area of Foča municipality where crimes of rape and other forms of sexual violence were committed.

Today, the "Partizan" sports hall is a facility renovated by donations from the international community, and its premises are used for sports activities in the local community. Although almost thirty years have passed since the end of the war, the local authorities ignore initiatives and any dialogue regarding the erection of a memorial plaque on this object or near it in order to commemorate officially and adequately the suffering of the victims.

The Association of the War Victims of Foča 92-95, in memory of the victims' suffering, organizes a commemorative walk and commemoration once a year on June 19th, the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. The commemoration is attended by the surviving victims and their families, with the support of civil society representatives, the international community and mostly representatives of the authorities from among the Bosniak people, with the evident absence of the authorities of Foča.