Bosnians Mourn War Crimes Victims in Ahmici, Trusina
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“We have two obligations to these innocent victims. One is to remember them and today we will remember them. Secondly, let’s do our best not to repeat such things,” Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosniak member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, told the commemoration in Ahmici on Monday.
The Croatian Defence Council, HVO, which was backed by Croatia, attacked Ahmici on April 16, 1993.
HVO forces killed more than 100 civilians in the attack, mostly women and children. The youngest victim was three months old and the oldest was 82.
Some people were buried alive in their houses, while the local mosque was destroyed.
The Hague Tribunal sentenced former HVO general Tihomir Blaskic to nine years in prison for war crimes including ordering the attack on Ahmici.
It also convicted Dario Kordic, former leader of the self-proclaimed wartime statelet called the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosnia, of crimes including the killings in Ahmici.
Meanwhile the Bosnian state court also convicted HVO commander Pasko Ljubicic of involvement in the Ahmici crimes.
There was also a commemoration on Monday in the village of Trusina, where soldiers of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina killed 15 Croat civilians and seven HVO fighters on the same day as the Ahmici massacre in 1993.
Three Bosniak ex-soldiers were sentenced to a total of 37 years in prison for their role in the killings by the state court in Sarajevo.
