Burial of 35 Victims in Zvornik

Nedim Civic, member of the Organisational Board for the burial, told BIRN Justice Report that 14 complete remains of the identified victims were buried in Snagovo on Wednesday, July 27 this year, while the remains of 21 unidentified persons were buried in one place.   
 
Civic said that it was not possible to determine their identity, because the bodies had been burnt.
 
“After having captured the unarmed citizens, including pregnant women, children and old people, Serb soldiers shot them at Rasidov Han, close to Snagovo. They set the bodies on fire in order to conceal the crime,” Civic said.  
 
According to Civic, the youngest victim of the crime, which was committed on April 29 1992, was less than one year old. He said that 36 civilians, mostly women, were killed in “the most monstrous crime”. Prior to performing the funeral prayer, the participants laid flowers at a memorial to the Snagovo victims.
 
Ahmet Grahic, President of the Association of Detained and Missing Persons from Zvornik municipality, says that nobody has been convicted for this crime as yet.
 
“Zoran Jankovic was the only person indicted, but he was acquitted of the charges due to a lack of evidence,” Grahic said.
 
In November 2007 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rendered a second instance verdict acquitting Zoran Jankovic, a former member of the Serb Army, of charges that he participated in the capture and shooting of Snagovo residents.
 
The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed a first instance verdict, under which he was acquitted of the charges saying that “there is no reliable evidence” that Jankovic participated in the murder of these civilians.
 
Zlatija Mujanovic survived the shooting in Snagovo. She testified before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007, when she said that she was among the local residents who were hiding in a nearby forest until “armed and uniformed” soldiers found them and took them to Rasidov Han.
 
“They told us that nothing bad would happen to us and they would protect us. Later on they took us to Rasidov Han and shot the people. I remember that, after having seen them leave the place, I approached the dead people with my sister and little Salih, who was four years old at the time. I saw my younger sister Edina. She was dead. My mother, who was pregnant, asked for some water. She just told us to flee and then she passed away,” Mujanovic said during her testimony.