Silos was a concentration camp operated by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) during the Bosnian War. Centered around a windowless grain silo, it was used to detain Bosnian Serb, and to a lesser extent Bosnian Croat, civilians between 1992 and 1996. The camp was located in the village of Tarčin, near the town of Hadžići, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) west of Sarajevo. Inmates were subjected to beatings, given little food and kept in unsanitary conditions. Five-hundred Bosnian Serb and ninety Bosnian Croat civilians were detained at the camp; twenty-four prisoners lost their lives.
In September 1992, a prisoner exchange was proposed in which the prisoners detained at Silos would be liberated in exchange for the liberation of Bosnian Muslims detained by the Bosnian Serbs. The negotiations eventually broke down and the exchange never took place. After the Red Cross visited Silos in November 1992, conditions improved somewhat. As many as 100 prisoners remained at Silos following the signing of the Dayton Agreement in December 1995, which ended the war. At the urging of U.S. President Bill Clinton, the camp was closed in January 1996, two months after the signing of the Dayton Agreement.
In November 2011, the Bosnian Police arrested eight wartime Bosnian Muslim officials and former camp guards, who were charged with abuses allegedly committed at the camp. In June 2021, seven of the eight were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and given sentences ranging from five to ten years' imprisonment. One of the defendants died mid-trial before a final verdict could be reached.
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