The anniversary of the closure of the Silos camp was commemorated with a liturgy at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Osenik, a visit and laying of roses in front of the Silos in Tarčin and a commemoration at the Cultural Centre in Istočno Sarajevo.
The Centre for Nonviolent Action organised the attendance of War veterans and peace activists from the region at the commemoration marking the anniversary of the closure of the Silos detention facility in Tarčin near Hadžići.
A group of peace activists and war veterans, former members of the Army of RBiH, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), the Republika Srpska Army (VRS) and the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ) joined the surviving prisoners and their families in marking the anniversary of the closure of the Silos detention facility in Tarčin.
From May 1992 to January 1996, the silos in Tarčin was turned into a detention facility for Serb and Croat civilians and soldiers and was run by the Army of RBiH. Several hundred prisoners were held at this facility, and according to the Judgement of the Court of BiH, they were subjected to inhumane conditions, abuse, beatings, forced displacement and forced labour.
“Through our earlier activities, we marked this building as an unmarked site of suffering and appealed to the relevant authorities to allow for this building to have a dignified memorial. Today, we are here with former prisoners to offer our support, to let them know they are not alone and that there are people from all sides who sympathise with them and want to condemn their detention in inhumane conditions and the torture they were subjected to. Aware of the suffering in the Hadžići Municipality, we want to support each other in remembering all victims,” said Amer Delić, a war veteran of the Army of RBiH and member of the Centre for Nonviolent Action.
The Court of BiH convicted Nezir Kazić, the former commander of the ARBiH 9th Mountain Brigade, sentencing him to ten years in prison, while Fadil Čović, the former chief of SJB in Hadžići, and Bećir Hujić, the former police commander in Pazarić, were sentenced to eight years in prison. Halid Čović, who was the chief of Silos, and Nermin Kalember, who was a guard there, were sentenced to five years in prison.
Jankica Samouković, a Silos prison camp survivor, said that the youngest prisoner was 14 and the oldest was 85, and that some 650 people were detained at the camp from 1992 to 1996. According to the testimony of the prison camp survivors, 24 prisoners were killed.
“The prisoners were mostly people taken from their homes, there were very few prisoners of war. We suffered a great deal, I’m not the only one from my home to be imprisoned, my father was held at the Silos all the way up to 19 January 1996, my sister was in a camp in Konjic. As difficult as it is for me today, I’m glad that it is being marked, that it is being recognised that there was a camp here, that innocent people were held there for years of their lives,” said Samouković.
Samouković pointed out that every person, whoever they are and wherever they come from, who suffered in a camp must work towards ensuring that something like that never happens again to anyone.
“I participate in peace activities and I’m glad that prison camp survivors who feel this pain can come closer together, can feel for each other and recognise each other’s pain. It is my opinion that it takes at least two to have a war, and in our case at least three, that’s the basis of war. I’m glad others also recognise this, that we can take responsibility for what happened to us and say, now let’s work together to ensure it never happens again,” explained Samouković.
Under the organisation of the Centre for Nonviolent Action, peace activists and war veterans from the region have attended commemorations in BiH in Gornji Vakuf, at Site 715 near Zavidovići, in Stog near Vozuća, in Novi Grad/Bosanski Novi, Sanski Most (Hrastova glavica), Sijekovac near Brod, Laništa near Brčko, Trusina near Konjic, Ahmići near Vitez, Grabovica, Uborak and Sutina near Mostar, Briševo and Zecovi near Prijedor, Korićanske stijene, Stupni Do near Vareš, Boderište near Brčko, the bridge over the Sava in Brčko, Bradina near Konjic, Skelani near Srebrenica, and in Serbia in Grdelička klisura near Leskovac, Varvarin near Kruševac, Aleksinac, as well as in Croatia in Pakrac, Varivode and Gošić near Knin.
Mirko Zečević Tadić, an HVO war veteran from Brčko, said it was important that we talk to each other about what happened to us in the 1990s, that we express compassion for all victims and show what war really brings.
“It is important that we extend a hand to each other, not just a hand of reconciliation, but that we give each other hope for a better life, hope that we can function better after the war that brought so much suffering to all of us. Too many lives were lost, too many people displaced, and we now have to rebuild trust. This is one of the ways to do that, when we honour sites where people were imprisoned, tortured, all the sites where people were killed,” said Zečević Tadić.
The photo gallery is available HERE