This was reportedly recognized by the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) on the basis of the number of Serb representatives in the Municipal Assembly.

[3] The SDS, in co-operation with the JNA, had also been active in arming the Serb population of the municipality and in training paramilitary units and militias.

[8] On 4 May 1992, the first shells landed in Konjic, thought to be fired by the JNA and other Serb forces from the slopes of Borašnica and Kisera, nearby mountains.

This required that the Serbian forces holding the nearby villages of Bradina and Donje Selo, as well as those at Borci and other strategic points, be disarmed.

Thereafter, the Konjic defence forces which included the local Croatian Army (HVO) and the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) in addition to the TO, launched a military campaign.

[14] The compound was a relatively large complex of buildings covering an area of about 50,000 square metres, with a railway line running through the middle.

[19] The majority of the prisoners who were detained were men captured during and after the military operations at Bradina and Donje Selo and their surrounding areas.

A large group of people from Bradina were arrested on 27 May, made to walk in a column then searched and beaten by their captors before being loaded into trucks and transported to the camp.

[22] Many of the witnesses who were taken to the camp testified that upon their arrival, they were made to line up against a wall where they were searched or forced to hand over valuables.

However, it was made evident during the trial that the commission had been created as a façade to give the Čelebići camp some semblance of legality.

Members of the commission were so horrified by the conditions the detainees were living in, the injuries they suffered, and the state of terror prevailing in the camp, that they resigned en masse.

[24] Nevertheless, the commission interviewed many of the Čelebići inmates and took their statements, as well as analyzing other documents which had been collected to determine if they had a role in the combat against the Konjic authorities.

[25] From the camp's establishment to its closure, detainees were subjected to murder, beatings, torture, sexual assaults and otherwise cruel and inhumane treatment.

Given that the building was made out of metal, it became hot during the daytime and prisoners were not allowed to leave their places, except in small groups upon request to use the toilet facilities which consisted of an outside ditch.

[26] Soldiers and guards beat prisoners with clubs, rifle butts, wooden planks, shovels and pieces of cable.

[30] On 21 March 1996, The ICTY indicted Hazim Delić, Esad Landžo, Zdravko Mucić and Zejnil Delalić for their roles in the crimes committed against Serbs at the camp.

[31] Delić, Mucić and Delalić were accused of failing to take the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or to punish those who mistreated the detainees from their superior positions of authority.

Landžo was charged with individual responsibility for his direct participation in five murders, four specific acts of torture and one case of causing great suffering and serious injury.

She noted that "Delic, Landzo, Mucic and Delalic... giggled, scowled and slouched their way through the trial like boys in a junior high detention hall" and how Delić "threatened a defense attorney and made loud disparaging remarks about witnesses while they testified".

[29][33] For his part, Landžo claimed he committed the crimes because he wanted to be a "perfect soldier" and unquestioningly obey orders coming from the camp superiors (Delić and Mucić).

He admitted among other things, to burning detainees on their arms or legs and forcing two brothers to perform fellatio on each other before tying slow-burning fuses to their genitals and liting them on fire.

With the exception of the prosecutor's expert, all testified that Landžo had some mental disorder but they each differed on specific diagnoses—from schizophrenic to unstable and deprived.

[34] On 16 November 1998, the ICTY delivered its verdict on the Čelebići case, finding Delić, Landžo and Mucić guilty, but acquitting Delalić of all charges.

[38][39] It was found that he beat an elderly man and nailed a Serbian Democratic Party badge to his forehead causing him to die from the injuries.

He cut off a prisoner's air supply using a gas mask and burned his hands, legs and thighs with a heated knife.

[40] Mucić was found guilty on 11 counts and sentenced to 7 years in prison on the basis of his individual responsibility and as hierarchical superior.

As commander of the camp, he was responsible for creating the atmosphere of terror that prevailed, whereby detainees lived in a constant state of anguish and fear of being subjected to physical abuse.

[43] In the case of Zejnil Delalić, it was found that he did not have enough command and control over the prison camp and the guards who worked there to entail criminal responsibility for their actions.

[46] The judgment created a precedent by defining "inhuman conditions" in the prison camp, upholding a clause in the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits "violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.

[51] In 2019, fourteen former members of the TO, Akrepi Commando and Reconnaissance Squad, HVO and the Konjic police force went on trial at the Bosnian State Court, charged with the murders, detentions, rape, torture and mistreatment of the Serb population in Konjic, as well as burning their property and the local Orthodox church.