Momčilo Gruban

Momčilo Gruban (born 19 June 1961), sometimes known by the nickname Čkalja, is a convicted war criminal and former reserve 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.

Gruban was born, raised and worked as a machinist in and around the town of Prijedor. In late May 1992 he was called up as a reserve policeman and 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, Gruban was the leader of one of the guard shifts at the camp. He supervised and had effective control of his guard shift, 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 shift commander, 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 a guard shift commander, including killings by guards over whom Gruban had effective control, and deaths as a result of denial of medical care. Gruban 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.

Gruban was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in February 1995. On 2 May 2002, he surrendered to the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro and was transferred into ICTY custody the same day. He made his first appearance before the court on 10 May, 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 Gruban and his Omarska co-accused Željko Mejakić, 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 Gruban, Mejakić, 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 Gruban to imprisonment for 11 years. On 16 July 2009, the appellate division of the Court of BiH affirmed his conviction but reduced Gruban's sentence to seven years due to the assistance he extended to several detainees. On 31 December 2010, Gruban was granted conditional release. In 2014 he was a defence witness during the trial of the former president of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb proto-state, Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and during his testimony he claimed that neither he not the guards on his shift had committed crimes at Omarska camp.