Culture Centre

The basement rooms of the Culture Centre in Vitez were used in 1993 as a site of detention for Bosniaks from the Vitez area. The prisoners were subjected to inhumane conditions, abuse, beatings and forced labour, with 4 prisoners dying as a result. The HVO Vitez Brigade had jurisdiction
over the facility.

For unlawful detention of civilians at the Culture Centre, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Dario Kordić, president of HDZ BiH and vice-president of HZ-HB, and sentenced him to 25 years in prison, while Mario Čerkez, commander of the HVO Vitez Brigade was sentenced to six years in prison. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, the ICTY convicted general Tihomir Blaškić, HVO commander for the Central Bosnia Operative Zone, and sentenced him to 9 years in prison. For crimes committed against prisoners in Vitez, the ICTY convicted Miroslav Bralo known as Cicko, member of the “Jokers” unit of the HVO Military Police, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted the commander of the HVO Vitez Brigade Military Police Ante Kovać, and sentenced him to 9 years in prison.