Fifteen Years On
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Fifteen years ago, on February 5, 1994, 67 Sarajevo residents were killed and 142 were wounded, some severely, in a massacre at the Markale marketplace in the centre of the city.
A shell was fired from Republika Srpska Army, VRS, positions at 12.30. The result was one of the worst incidents in the 1992-95 war
A memorial ceremony, followed by the laying of wreaths at the massacre location, was organized to mark the anniversary in Sarajevo.
On January 15 this year Stanislav Galic was transferred from the Detention Unit at The Hague to Germany, where he will serve a life sentence for this and other crimes.
Major General Galic, commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the Republika Srpska Army from November 1992 to August 1994, was originally sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. Following an appeal, his sentence was revised to lifetime imprisonment, in November 2006.
The verdict against Galic cites the massacre at Markale, among other things.
“The Trial Chamber heard detailed testimony on this incident. We examined the results of an investigation conducted by the United Nations staff and local investigators after the incident. We also studied the analyses made by experts who were invited by the parties to the trial. A number of pieces of new data were presented. Most Trial Chamber members determined that the mortar shell which caused the explosion had been fired from the territory controlled by the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps. This was a destructive attack on a civilian target,” the verdict states.
The same decision determined that the citizens of Sarajevo “were directly and unselectively attacked from the positions held by the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps… What we know is that hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands were wounded in sniper incidents and shelling that happened in the course of the two-year period covered by this indictment. An insignificant number of those incidents, only an insignificant number, could have been caused by accident”.
Besides Galic, Radovan Karadzic is also charged with the shelling of Sarajevo. He is currently at The Hague awaiting trial, after having been arrested in Belgrade in 2008, following 13 years on the run. Up to the present date Galic is the only person who has been convicted for the Markale massacre.
Those who were killed were Senad Arnautovic, Ibrahim Babic, Mehmed Barucija, Camil Begic, Emir Begovic, Vahida Besic, Gordana Bogdanovic, Vaskrsije Bojinovic, Muhamed Borovina, Faruk Brkanic, Sakib Bulbul, Jelena Cavriz, Almasa Cehajic, Zlatko Cosic, Alija Cukojevic, Verica Cilimdzic, Smilja Delic, Ifet Drugovac, Dzevad Durmo, Fatima Durmo, Kemal Dzebo, Ismet Fazlic, Vejsil Ferhatbegovic, Dzevdet Fetahovic, Muhamed Fetahovic, Ahmed Foco, Majda Ganovic, Isma Gibovic, Rasema Hasanovic, Alija Hurko, Mirsada Ibrulj, Mustafa Imanic, Rasema Jazi?, Razija Junuzovic, Hasija Karavdic, Mladen Klacar, Marija Knezevic, Selma Kovac, Ibro Krajcin, Sejda Kunic, Jozo Kvesic, Numo Lakaca, Ruza Malovic, Jadranka Minic, Nura Odzak, Mejra Orman, Hajrija Orucevic, Seid Prozorac, Smajo Rahic, Igor Rehar, Sabit Rizvo, Zahida Sablja, Nedzad Salihovic, Hajrija Smajic, Emina Srnja, Dzemo Subasic, Sacir Suljevic, Hasib Sabanovic, Ahmed Sehbajraktarevic, Bejto Skrijelj, Junuz Svrakic, Pasaga Tihic, Munib Torlakovic, Ruzdija Trbic, Dzemil Zecic, Muhamed Zubovic and Senad Zunic.
