Željko Mejakić

Željko Mejakić (born 2 August 1964) is a convicted war criminal and former police officer who was found guilty by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Court of BiH) of murder, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, other inhumane acts, and persecution – constituting crimes against humanity under the criminal code of Bosnia and Herzegovina – committed at the Omarska concentration camp in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War.

Mejakić was born, raised and worked as a policeman in and around the town of Prijedor. In late May 1992 he was the commander of the police station at the town of Omarska in the Prijedor municipality when he began working at the Omarska camp which held almost exclusively non-Serb detainees from the surrounding districts who had been rounded up during the ethnic cleansing of central Bosanska Krajina. According to findings by the Court of BiH during his trial and appeal, between 28 May and 21 August 1992, Mejakić was the de facto commander – and chief of security – of the Omarska camp. He supervised and had effective control of the guard force at the camp, participated in arbitrarily depriving the detainees of their liberty and contributed to and advanced the operations of the camp involving ill-treating and persecuting Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and others held in the camp through various forms of physical, mental and sexual violence. He had the authority and duty to improve the conditions of the camp which were brutal and degrading, but did not do so, resulting in an atmosphere of terror. While he was de facto commander of the camp, detainees were kept without the basic necessities of life such as adequate food, drinking water, medicines and medical care. They were also kept in unhygienic and cramped conditions, and subjected to interrogations, beatings, torture, harassment, humiliation and psychological abuse on a daily basis, living in constant fear of their lives. At least one hundred detainees were killed or died in the camp during his period as chief of security, including killings by guards over whom Mejakić had effective control, and deaths as a result of denial of medical care. Mejakić also participated directly and personally in beatings, and had effective control of guards who beat and sexually assaulted detainees. The camp was closed in late August following international outcry in the wake of a visit and reporting by British journalist Ed Vulliamy.

Mejakić was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in February 1995. On 1 July 2003, he surrendered to the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro and was transferred into ICTY custody on 4 July. He made his first appearance before the court on 7 July, when he entered pleas of not guilty to all five counts under the indictment. On 7 April 2006, the ICTY appeals chamber decided to transfer the prosecution of Mejakić and his Omarska co-accused Momčilo Gruban, Dušan Fuštar and Dušan Knežević to the Court of BiH so that the men could be tried in the country where the alleged offences had occurred. On the same day, Peter Kidd, the prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued an indictment charging Mejakić, Grubann, Fuštar and Knežević with crimes against humanity, which was confirmed a week later. All four accused pleaded not guilty on 28 July. On 20 December 2006 the trial began, but the court separated Fuštar from the case on 17 April 2008 as he wished to enter into a plea agreement. The trial of Mejakić, Gruban and Knežević continued and the court rendered its first instance verdict on 30 May 2008. It found all three guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced Mejakić to imprisonment for 21 years. On 16 July 2009, the appellate division of the Court of BiH confirmed Mejakić's sentence. On 25 January 2019, Mejakić was granted conditional release as he had served two-thirds of his sentence, including time served between his surrender and sentencing.