Info
Barracks of the former Planum construction company, village of Šljivovica, Republic of Serbia
Location:
Village of Šljivovica, Čajetina Municipality, near Užice, Republic of Serbia
Importance of the locality:
Abandoned barracks of the former Planum construction company in the village of Šljivovica near Užice were used from August 1995 to 10 April 1996 as a site of detention for Bosniaks brought to there by force mostly after the fall of the Srebrenica and Žepa enclaves. The complex consisted of abandoned barracks with the administration housed in one structure and prisoners kept in the others. Upon arrival to the complex of abandoned barracks, the prisoners had to pass through a gauntlet of soldiers, had cold water poured on them and were forced to kneel on the concrete. A total of 350 Bosniaks were detained here at various times, and the prisoners were subjected to inhumane conditions, abuse and interrogations.
When the detention facility in Mitrovo Polje was closed, the remaining prisoners, 194 of them, were transferred back to Šljivovica where they remained until its closure on 10 April 1996. On the day of the detention facility’s closure, 13 or 14 prisoners were kept back on suspicion of having committed war crimes, but after a negative reaction from BiH authorities and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the prisoners were released.
Entity:
Republic of Serbia
Ethnic group:
Bosniaks
Area that victims came from:
Žepa
Responsibility:
Army of Yugoslavia, SUP Užice
Court trials:
Trials held before the ICTY did not determine responsibility for the detention facilities in Šljivovica and Mitrovo Polje, although evidence of their existence was presented in the Milošević, Tolimir, Popović, Perišić, and Stanišić and Simatović cases. Detention facilities for Bosniaks in Serbia are not mentioned in the judgement in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Yugoslavia for genocide committed in the territory of BiH that was tried before the International Court of Justice from 1993 to 2007.
Mujo Vatreš, who spent more than six months at the Mitrovo Polje detention facility in Serbia and lost around 50 kilograms, won a case for material damages in 2013. This is the first judgement in favour of a former prisoner and it is important because it confirms the existence of the detention facilities and the responsibility of Serbia.
Data source:
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), Humanitarian Law Center.
Marked and photographed:
5.11.2025
Map:
Updated:
15.12.2025
Legenda
Army of Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina – ARBiH
Security services command centre – CSB
Herzeg Bosnia – HB
Croat Defense Forces – HOS
Army of Croatia – HV
Croat Defense Council – HVO
Yugoslav National Army – JNA
International Crime Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia – ICTY
Ministry of Interior – MUP
People’s Defense of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia – NO APZB
Police station – SJB
Serb Army of Krajina – SVK
Territorial defense of Bosnia-Herzegovina – TO BiH
Army of Republic of Srpska – VRS
Army of Yugoslavia – VJ
Aktualizovano: 26. December 2019
