Lora prison camp

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Lora prison camp (a.k.a. the Military Investigation Prison Lora) was a prison camp in Split, Croatia. It was active from 1992 to 1997 with mainly Serbian residents of Split and prisoners of war being imprisoned. The camp was the site of human rights abuses resulting in reports to the United Nations^[1] and the controversial trial, acquittal, retrial and conviction of prison guards.

In 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence, Yugoslav Federal JNA forces were forced to withdraw from Split and the Lora naval compound was occupied by Croatian forces. The naval compound was converted to a prison camp in 1992 to house both civilians and prisoners of war.^[2] The camp prisoners were subjected to a variety of beating, torture and killings. ^[2]

[edit] The trial

In 2002, the trial of eight Croatian military officers, members of the 72nd Military Police Battalion, began with charges of the torture and murder of Serbian and Montenegrin prisoners at the camp. All eight were acquitted by Judge Lozina in November 2002 after a trial characterised by intimidation and harassment of witnesses, and alleged threats against the prosecutors. ^[3].^[4]

All eight officers where retried with a verdict handed down by the Split Cantonal Court, War Crimes Chamber on March 2, 2006. The officers were all found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to between 4 and 8 years in prison although four of them were tried in absentia. .^[5]