Exactly 28 years ago, more than 70 Bosniak civilians, mostly women and children and the elderly, were burned in Adem Omeragic’s house in Pionirska Street in Visegrad, and the youngest victim was only two days old and burned in her mother’s arms, Vijesti.ba news portal reports.
A grenade was thrown at the house, and then the criminals shot at those who tried to escape through the window. Most of the victims were from the village of Koritnik, where they were picked up and ordered to board buses, which were supposed to take them to Kladanj for free territory.
Every year, the Association “Women Victims of War” and “Visegrad 92” mark this anniversary by dropping white roses into the Drina River from the Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic Bridge, thus reminding them of all the horrific crimes committed in Visegrad.
This year, the commemoration of the crime is planned for June 27th, the day when several civilians were also set on fire in another house in the Visegrad neighborhood of Bikavac, owned by Meho Aljic. In 1992, members of the “Avengers” paramilitary formation, led by Milan and Sredoje Lukic, imprisoned and set fire to more than 130 civilians in these two houses in Višegrad.
The president of the Association “Women Victims of War”, Bakira Hasečić, in a conversation with Fena news agency, recalled this, one of the most terrible war crimes that happened during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on June 14th, says Hasecic, her neighbors were set on fire. She received one of the surviving victims into her home.
It was Sumbula Zeba, the daughter of Adem Omeragic, and when she saw her she did not look like a human being, says Hasečić and described her character during her testimony in The Hague, but also in the Court of BiH because no one could believe what Sumbula said at that time.