Former Territorial Defence HQ “Stela”, Alipašino Polje, Sarajevo

At ZAVNOBiH Square in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Alipašino Polje, several detention sites were set up from mid-April 1992 for Serb civilians from the Sarajevo area. The former Borsalino Café, the local community offices, the butcher’s shop and other commercial and residential buildings were used to unlawfully detain civilians. The prisoners were beaten and abused, the women were raped. Several people were killed, the remains of some have still not been found.

The first trials for crimes committed at this site started in 1994. In 2021, the Court of BiH sentenced Senad Džananović to 11 and Edin Gadžo to 5 years in prison. Džananović had been convicted of crimes at this site in 1994. In a separate case before the Court of BiH, Jasmin Erović was acquitted in 2019. The Court found that the perpetrators’ superiors were Jusuf “Juka” Prazina, commander of ARBiH special units, and Samir Kahvedžić “Kruško”, commander of TO “Stela”. Both were killed during the war. The Court of BiH incontrovertibly established that there were unlawful detentions, torture, rapes and killings.