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Dušan Fuštar
Душан Фуштар
Born	(1954-06-29) 29 June 1954 Bačko Dobro Polje, Vojvodina, Yugoslavia
Known for	crimes against humanity
Conviction	persecution as a crime against humanity
Criminal charge	murder, torture, sexual violence, other inhumane acts, and persecution (as crimes against humanity)
Penalty	nine years' imprisonment
Capture status	surrendered
Details
Victims	Non-Serb detainees from the Prijedor region
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Location	Keraterm concentration camp
Date apprehended	31 January 2022

Dušan Fuštar (born 29 June 1954) is a Bosnian Serb who was found guilty by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Court of BiH) of persecution – constituting crimes against humanity under the criminal code of Bosnia and Herzegovina – committed at the Keraterm concentration camp near Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War.

Fuštar was born in Bačko Dobro Polje, Vojvodina, Yugoslavia, and worked as a mechanic. The Bosnian War broke out in April 1992, and in late May the Keraterm camp opened. It held almost exclusively non-Serb detainees from the surrounding districts who had been rounded up during the ethnic cleansing of central Bosanska Krajina. The detainees were kept in deplorable conditions and an atmosphere of severe physical and psychological violence, and had limited access to inadequate and poor quality food, water and medical care. Between June and August 1992, while leader of one of three guard shifts at the camp, Fuštar failed to assert his authority while on duty and to the extent of his ability, to protect the detainees. He also failed to improve the living conditions of detainees, and thereby contributed to and furthered the system of ill treatment and persecution under the joint criminal enterprise which the camp constituted. The Keraterm camp closed in early August.

Fuštar was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in July 1995. On 31 January 2002, he surrendered to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and was transferred into ICTY custody. In the meantime, prosecutions of some of those indicted for alleged crimes at Keraterm had proceeded, and a new Keraterm case had been formed. Fuštar entered pleas of not guilty to all counts under the operative indictment. In April 2006, the ICTY referral chamber decided to transfer the prosecution of Fuštar and his co-accused Željko Mejakić, Dušan Knežević and Momčilo Gruban to the Court of BiH as part of the process of the ICTY concluding its mandate. They were then indicted with crimes against humanity by the prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina and entered not guilty pleas. Their trial began in December 2006. In March 2008, Fuštar entered into a plea agreement with the prosecutor on the basis of an amended indictment comprising one count of crimes against humanity of persecution, and the court separated Fuštar from the case and accepted the plea agreement the following month. On 22 April he was found guilty of the single count of crimes against humanity on the basis of his participation in the JCE, and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. At the hearing he read a statement of remorse in which he denied personally assaulting or harassing any detainees, but expressed his "deepest remorse" to the detainees who had been hurt in any way at the camp. His custody was extended by the at the hearing but he was released conditionally on 26 May by order of the appellate panel on the basis that he had already served two-thirds of his sentence. His release was protested by the Prijedor-based womens' non-governmental organisation IZVOR and victims. In May 2008 the court found his three co-accused guilty of crimes against humanity.

Early life and work

Dušan Fuštar was born on 29 June 1954 in Bačko Dobro Polje, Vojvodina, Yugoslavia. He is of Bosnian Serb ethnicity, and worked as a mechanic.

Establishment of concentration camps at Prijedor

Prijedor

Banja Luka

Location of Prijedor and Banja Luka within Bosnia and Herzegovina

See also: 1992 ethnic cleansing of central Bosanska Krajina

In September 1991, as Yugoslavia continued to break up, several Bosnian Serb autonomous regions were proclaimed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which then each established what was known as a crisis staff. Each crisis staff consisted of the leaders of the Bosnian Serb-dominated Serb Democratic Party (SDS), the local Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) commander, and Bosnian Serb police officials. Initially the Serb Autonomous Region of Krajina (ARK) did not include the Prijedor municipality – which incorporated the town itself and some outlying villages. Before the war, the population of the municipality was 44 per cent Bosnian Muslim, 42.5 per cent Bosnian Serb, 5.6 per cent Bosnian Croat, with the rest identifying as Yugoslav, Ukrainian, Russian or Italian. Within the municipality the local government was run by the Bosnian Muslim-dominated Party of Democratic Action (SDA), which had a small majority. On 30 April 1992, the SDS, assisted by police and military forces, took over the town of Prijedor, and JNA soldiers occupied all the prominent institutions in the town. A local crisis staff was created, reporting to the ARK crisis staff in the city of Banja Luka 50 km (31 mi) to the east. Immediately after the Bosnian Serb takeover of the municipality, non-Serbs were targeted for abusive treatment. After the JNA elements in Bosnia and Herzegovina became the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) on 20 May, majority non-Serb villages in the Prijedor area were attacked by the VRS, and the population rounded up, although some fled. This occurred in Prijedor town itself on 30 May. Older men, and women and children were separated from men of fighting age, who were transported to the police station in Prijedor then bussed to either the Omarska or Keraterm concentration camps. The elderly men, women and children were generally taken to the Trnopolje concentration camp. All three camps were in the wider Prijedor municipality. Non-Serb community leaders were included in the roundup and sent to one of the camps.

Fuštar's activities at the Keraterm concentration camp

See also: Keraterm concentration camp

The Keraterm concentration camp was established in a former ceramics factory near Prijedor.

The Keraterm camp was located at a former ceramic factory in the suburb of Čirkin Polje in Prijedor, and operated from 24 May to 5 August. Keraterm only held a small number of female detainees, and most of the 1,000 to 1,500 people held there were Bosnian Muslim men, with a few Bosnian Croats. The detainees were kept in inhumane conditions and subjected to psychological and physical abuse, and many were tortured and/or killed. The detainees were continuously exposed to severe beatings by the members of the camp guard force, which consisted of reserve police officers from Prijedor, and by visitors to the camp, using "fists, feet, knives, bats and other objects". Inspectors visited the camp in the mornings and interrogated detainees – this also involved beatings, some of which were fatal. Detainees were also subjected to violent sexual assault, and hundreds of crimes were committed in the camp.

Between June and August 1992, while leader of one of three guard shifts at the camp, Fuštar failed to assert his authority while on duty and to the extent of his ability, to protect the detainees. He also failed to improve the living conditions of detainees, and thereby contributed to and furthered the system of ill treatment and persecution in the camp.

On 7 August 1992, the British journalist Ed Vulliamy reported on the shocking conditions in the Omarska and Trnopolje camps, having visited them in the preceding days at the invitation of the president of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb proto-state, Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić. The international outcry that arose from Vulliamy's reporting and photographs of emaciated detainees caused the Bosnian Serbs to close the Omarska camp soon after, although many of the detainees were just moved to other camps.

Indictment, surrender and transfer of case to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Fuštar was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in February 1995

In 1993, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the United Nations (UN) to prosecute war crimes that took place in the Balkans in the 1990s. In July 1995, Fuštar, along with 12 other persons allegedly involved in the running of the Keraterm camp, was indicted by the ICTY under Case Number IT-95-8. On 20 December 1995, the Bosnian War ended when the Dayton Agreement came into force, along with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-led multi-national peace enforcement operation known as the Implementation Force (IFOR). After a year during which the peace agreement between the former warring parties was successfully implemented, the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) took over on 20 December 1996. In December 2004, SFOR was succeeded by the European Union Force Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR) which continued to oversee the military implementation of the Dayton Agreement.

On 5 May 1998, the ICTY prosecutor withdrew the charges against five of the accused over the operation of the Keraterm camp under Case Number IT-95-8. As a result, the amended Keraterm indictment included only Fuštar, Dušan Knežević, Predrag Banović, and five others. The prosecutor stated that the withdrawal of these accused people from the indictments resulted from a re-evaluation of the investigative and prosecutorial strategies of the ICTY to prioritise the most serious cases, and the fact that none of those against whom charges had been withdrawn had yet been arrested or surrendered to the court, increasing the anticipated number of separate trials. On 9 November 1998, the ICTY announced that its prosecutor had been granted leave to withdraw four accused from the amended Omarska and Keraterm indictments and consolidate their charges under a single and separate indictment. The indictment in the Keraterm case was amended in August 1999 and again in January 2001. Because only three of the accused from the Keraterm indictment were in custody at this time, a trial of these three under Case Number IT-95-8 commenced in March 2001 and was completed in November 2001. In the same month as that trial concluded, Banović was transferred to ICTY custody and a new Keraterm case was established under Case Number IT-95-8/1, in which he was included. When Fuštar was transferred into ICTY custody on 31 January 2002, he was joined to the new case. he entered pleas of not guilty to all counts of the indictment.

In September 2002, the remaining three accused on the original Omarska indictment Case Number IT-95-4 (Knežević, Mejakić and Gruban) were joined to those accused in the new Keraterm indictment Case Number IT-95-8/1 (Knežević, Banović and Fuštar) and a new consolidated case was created against Case Number IT-02-65. On 21 November 2002 this consolidated indictment became the operative ICTY indictment against the five co-accused. In June 2003, Banović came to a plea agreement with the prosecution and was withdrawn from the operative indictment and dealt with separately. On 1 July 2003, Mejakić surrendered to the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro and was transferred into ICTY custody.

The operative indictment comprised the following counts against Fuštar on the basis of individual responsibility under Article 7(1) and command responsibility under Article 7(3) of the ICTY statute:

• Count 1 – Persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, a crime against humanity – Article 5(h)
• Count 2 – Murder, a crime against humanity – Article 5(a)
• Count 3 – Murder, a violation of the laws or customs of war – Article 3
• Count 4 – Inhumane acts, a crime against humanity – Article 5(i)
• Count 5 – Cruel treatment, a violation of the laws or customs of war – Article 3

On 7 April 2006, the ICTY announced that its appeals chamber had upheld a decision to transfer the prosecution of Fuštar, Knežević, Mejakić and Gruban to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Court of BiH) under ICTY Rule 11bis. In 2005, as part of the process of concluding its mandate pursuant to resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, the ICTY had begun transferring middle and lower-level indictees to the courts of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Such transfers were subject to various conditions. On 9 May 2006, the case against Fuštar, Knežević, Mejakić and Gruban was transferred to Bosnia and Herzegovina for trial, and they were all transferred into the custody of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the same day. From this point on, the ICTY monitored proceedings at the Court of BiH and received regular progress reports from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the prosecution, sentencing and appeals. From this point on, the ICTY monitored proceedings at the Court of BiH and received regular progress reports on the prosecution, sentencing and appeals.

Trial, sentencing and appeal

On 7 July 2006, the prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued an indictment charging Knežević, Mejakić, Gruban and Fuštar with crimes against humanity. Knežević was indicted for the following crimes at the Omarska camp under various subparagraphs of Article 172(1) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely:

• (a) depriving another person of his life (murder);
• (e) imprisonment (arbitrary and unlawful confinement of camp detainees);
• (f) torture (beatings and other physical abuse);
• (g) sexual violence (rapes and other forms of sexual abuse);
• (k) other inhumane acts (confinement in inhumane conditions, harassment, humiliation and other psychological abuse); and
• (h) persecution.

Knežević was also indicted for the same crimes at the Keraterm camp under the same subparagraphs of Article 172(1) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, except subparagraph (g). The indictments against Knežević were confirmed by the Court of BiH a week later. On 28 July 2006, all four accused pleaded not guilty. The trial commenced on 20 December 2006. The court separated Fuštar from the case on 17 April 2008 as he wished to enter into a plea agreement. The trial of Knežević, Mejakić and Gruban continued, and the court rendered its first instance verdict on 30 May 2008.

Knežević was found guilty of all the crimes against humanity under article 172(1) with which he had been indicted. This finding was on the basis of individual responsibility, and also under the JCE directed at “forcefully removing, detaining, and harassing the non-Serb population” of Prijedor.. He was sentenced to long-term imprisonment for 31 years. His co-defendants were also found guilty of crimes against humanity. Knežević appealed the first instance verdict, claiming that there had been violations of the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and in the establishment of facts.

On 20 July 2009, the appellate panel of the Court of BiH rendered its final and binding verdict in the case, described by the OSCE as "deemed generally as a clear and well-structured decision". The panel revised the basis of Knežević's conviction, stating that the basis for his criminal liability was under the JCE, which, as the broadest form of responsibility, encompassed any individual liability. The panel confirmed Knežević's conviction and sentence. The court worked under the assumption that Knežević's motive was that he was trying to find information about the individual who had killed his brother during the war, and found that Knezevic’s responsibility for the crimes he committed was not diminished because he wished to commit the crimes “in an extremely cruel way.” The OSCE observed that the appeal panel in this case had clarified several previously unsettled aspects of the domestic law of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding JCE. Firstly, that JCE could legally be applied to domestic war crimes prosecutions, and also how JCE should relate to direct and command responsibility for crimes.

On 24 July 2009, Knežević began his sentence at the Penal Correctional Institution in Foča, the only facility in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina that can house prisoners serving sentences of long-term imprisonment.

References

Books, conference papers and reports

• Alić, Aida (2010). Time for Truth: Review of the Work of the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2005–2010. Sarajevo: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. ISBN 978-9958-9005-5-6.
• Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Conflict. Vol. 2. Washington: Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Russian and European Analysis. 2003. ISBN 978-0-16-066472-4. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Borger, Julian (2016). The Butcher's Trail: How the Search for Balkan War Criminals Became the World's Most Successful Manhunt. New York: Other Press. ISBN 978-1-59051-606-5.
• "Bosnia and Herzegovina". Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009. Vol. 2. US: US Government Printing Office. 2009. OCLC 6026722.
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• Thirteenth and Final Report in the Željko Mejakić et al. Case – Transferred to the State Court pursuant to Rule 11bis (PDF). Sarajevo: Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. 6 October 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 March 2025.
• Vigneswaran, Kate (2016). "Charges and Outcomes in ICTY Cases Involving Sexual Violence". In Brammertz, Baron Serge; Jarvis, Michelle (eds.). Prosecuting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at the ICTY. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-108103-3.
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• "Bosnian Camp Commander Surrenders". BBC. 31 January 2002. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2026.
• "Bosnian Serb Surrendered to UN Court". CNN. 31 January 2002. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
• Boucher, Richard (8 November 2001). "Belgrade Authorities Arrest Two ICTY Indictees". US Department of State. Retrieved 23 April 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
• Case Information Sheet: The Prosecutor v. Željko Mejakić, Momčilo Gruban, Dušan Fuštar & Dušan Knežević (PDF). ICTY. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2026. Retrieved 7 March 2025.
• Coughlan, Geraldine (24 May 2002). "Bosnian Serb Denies Murder Charges". BBC. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
• Dzidic, Denis (25 April 2008). "Fustar Asks for Forgiveness". Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Archived from the original on 17 November 2025. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
• "EUFOR Fact Sheet". EUFOR. 19 March 2004. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
• "History of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina". NATO. 2 December 2004. Archived from the original on 20 March 2025. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
• Kratovac, Katarina (29 June 2003). "Bosnian Serb Indicted for War Crimes". Midland Daily News. Archived from the original on 23 April 2026. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
• "More War Crimes Suspects Surrender". CBC News. 2 May 2002. Archived from the original on 23 April 2026. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
• "Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Željko Mejakić, Momčilo Gruban and Duško Knežević". International Crimes Database. Archived from the original on 22 March 2025. Retrieved 8 March 2025.
• "Statement by the Prosecutor following the Withdrawal of the Charges against 14 Accused". International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. Archived from the original on 18 November 2025. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
• "Status of Transferred Cases". International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. Archived from the original on 12 January 2026. Retrieved 8 March 2025.
• "The Omarska and Keraterm Cases: Further Initial Appearance on 10 December 1998 of defendants Radic, Kvocka, Zigic and Kos". International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. Archived from the original on 25 June 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
• "Trial of Four Bosnian Serbs begins". Al Jazeera. 20 December 2006. Archived from the original on 18 November 2025. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
• Vulliamy, Ed (7 August 1992). "Shame of Camp Omarska". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 February 2026. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
• "Željko Mejakić, Momčilo Gruban, Dušan Fuštar & Dušan Knežević, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Adapted Indictment" (PDF). International Crimes Database. 7 July 2006. Case: KT-RZ-91/06. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2025. Retrieved 8 March 2025.