Account of an event · Omarska · August 5, 1992 – August 6, 1992
"I could have, of course I could have": The Last Days of Dr. Esad Sadiković in the Omarska Camp
Dr. Esad Sadiković, a respected physician from Prijedor, was detained in 1992 in the Omarska camp, where, according to the Institute for Genocide Research Canada, he continued to help detainees as a doctor. In August 1992, shortly before the camp was dissolved, a guard took him away, and the detainees stood up and thanked him, as Nusret Sivac testified before the Hague Tribunal. According to the Institute, his remains were found in a cave near Sanski Most and buried in Prijedor in 2007.
Where and when
Omarska
- Date
- August 5, 1992 – August 6, 1992
- Place
- Prijedor, Omarska
- Coordinates
- 44.89° N · 16.90° E
A Physician from Prijedor
Esad Sadiković, whom people in Prijedor called Eso, was a specialist physician, working among other places at the Prijedor hospital. According to the Institute for Genocide Research Canada, he was active in the international organization Doctors Without Borders and as a UN activist. In the early 1990s, according to the same source, he called for understanding and a peaceful resolution of political tensions and wrote satirical pieces for the newspaper Kozarski vjesnik.
According to a text by Dr. Emir Ramić published on the portal genocid.ba, Dr. Sadiković could have left Prijedor, but decided to stay with his people. Asked why he had not left, according to that text, he answered: "I could have, of course I could have."
Detainee of the Omarska Camp
In 1992, Dr. Sadiković was detained in the Omarska camp. According to data from Prijedor victims' associations, 3,334 persons were brought to the camp between 20 May and 21 August 1992. In the camp as well, according to the Institute for Genocide Research Canada, he continued to help detainees as a physician.
Being Taken Away
In August 1992, shortly before the camp began to be dissolved, a guard came for Dr. Sadiković at dawn, ordered him to pack his belongings and led him out of the room. Former camp detainee Nusret Sivac testified about this before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. According to his testimony, the detainees at that moment stood up and thanked the doctor with words that Sivac relays as "Thank you doctor for everything you've done." Sivac also testified that the order to pack one's belongings meant that the detainee would be killed.
According to the text on genocid.ba, Dr. Sadiković bid the detainees farewell with the words "Hold on."
The sources differ regarding the exact time. According to the text on genocid.ba, Dr. Sadiković was taken away in the night between 5 and 6 August 1992, the night before the camp was dissolved. According to the Institute for Genocide Research Canada, he was executed on 5 August 1992. According to the testimony of Nusret Sivac, he was taken away at dawn, in August 1992, and killed the same day. The dissolution of the Omarska camp, according to the Prijedor victims' associations, began on 6 August 1992.
Remains and Confirmation of Death
Dr. Esad Sadiković never returned home. According to the Institute for Genocide Research Canada, his remains were found in a cave near Sanski Most and buried in Prijedor on 29 July 2007.
His death was also confirmed in 2015 by Goran Dragojević, a defense witness in the proceedings against Ratko Mladić before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, who stated that Dr. Esad Sadiković, a physician at the Prijedor hospital, was killed.