Account of an event · Prijedor · 1992
Prijedor still searches for the remains of those killed
In 1992, around 30,000 non-Serb men, women and children passed through the Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje camps near Prijedor, and among the 102 children killed from Prijedor was a two-month-old infant. More than three decades later, families are still waiting to learn where their loved ones lie. This story follows the fates of those who were killed, of survivors, and of those who died without seeing their sons buried.
Where and when
Prijedor
- Date
- 1992
- Place
- Prijedor, Omarska
- Coordinates
- 44.98° N · 16.71° E
The camps around Prijedor in 1992
In the course of 1992, Bosnian Serb forces, police and army, set up camps in Prijedor and its surroundings. According to available sources, around 30,000 non-Serb residents passed through Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje: men, women and children. According to judgments of the Hague Tribunal, Bosnian Serb forces killed thousands of people in the Prijedor area and held thousands of others in camps.
According to data from Radio Free Europe, 3,176 people were killed in Prijedor and its surroundings during the war, among them 102 children. According to the same source, the police are responsible for 817 deaths in the Keraterm and Omarska camps.
The youngest victims
Among the children killed from Prijedor was a child only two months old. According to the chief imam in Prijedor, Mahir Kozarac, as reported by genocid.ba, the youngest victim of the crimes in Prijedor is two-month-old Velid Bešić. "The youngest victim is Velid Bešić, who was two months old and has still not been found and buried," said imam Kozarac.
According to genocid.ba, the youngest buried victim is five-year-old Haris Džananović, who was killed together with his sister and mother.
Fikret Alić: the face on the cover
Fikret Alić was detained soon after the war began in 1992, when he was taken from his home. He survived the Keraterm and Trnopolje camps. According to his testimony, in Keraterm, where 130 men were massacred in a hangar, detainees had to load bodies onto a bulldozer.
In the Trnopolje camp he was photographed, emaciated and gaunt, behind barbed wire. That image was published on the cover of Time magazine on 17 August 1992 and went around the world. According to genocid.ba, Alić lost weight in the camps, going from 86 to 48 kilograms, had broken teeth and a broken nose, and later lay in a coma in Travnik.
Fikret Alić was later granted asylum in Denmark. He still speaks out publicly today and demands justice for the victims.
Five camps
According to genocid.ba, Husnija Avdagić passed through five camps: Trnopolje, Keraterm, Omarska, Manjača and Batković. According to the same source, he was transferred to Omarska on 9 June 1992 and was later exchanged.
Mothers who did not live to see a burial
Many mothers died without living to bury their sons. According to genocid.ba, among them is Arifa Garibović, who died without the remains of her six sons having been found.
A search that continues
The search for the missing from Prijedor has lasted more than three decades. Figures on how many victims have still not been found differ from source to source. Families continue to wait for those who know where the bones of their loved ones lie to speak.