The crime against 32 Serbian civilians in the village of Čemerno near Ilijaš, which was committed in 1992 by members of the BiH Army, must not be forgotten so that it does not happen again, it was ordered today at the commemoration of the 31st anniversary of this crime.
The delegate of the Serbian member and chairman of the BiH Presidency, Boško Tomić, pointed out that the sufferings of Serbian fighters and civilians are a reminder that unity is needed when it comes to Serbian interests, and there should be no compromise in that.
He said that in 1992, the Serbs still thought that an agreement could be reached so that there would be no war, and pointed out that the Serbs are a people who keep their word and trust their neighbors.
“Unfortunately, as in previous wars, their trust was betrayed this time,” Tomić said.
He appealed for the unity of the Serbian people and called on the judicial institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina to speed up the prosecution of crimes against Serbs.
“When it comes to Serbs, processes were quickly completed for every little thing and a large number of people were sentenced to many years, and when it comes to Bosniaks, then it is far below all expectations,” Tomić stressed.
Nebojša Vidaković, the assistant minister for veterans’ disability protection of Republika Srpska, said that such gatherings send a message of Serbian unity to never forget the victims of the Republika Srpska.
President of the Republic Organization of Families of Captured, Killed Fighters and Missing Civilians, Isidora Graorac, stated today that no one has been held accountable for the suffering of Serbian fighters and civilians at Čemerno, and that this is nothing new for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to her, the village of Čemerno gave its name to itself, because today it is only hell, sadness and misery.
“(Cemer), sadness and misery meet people at every step. Nothing that could remind of the life before, because everything was destroyed and burned. The villagers were either killed or expelled. It remains for us as contemporaries not to allow the crime committed in this village forget it,” said Graorac.
She believes that it is important to remind the public and inform those who had no connection with the war about what happened in this village 31 years ago.
“If we know and remember what happened to us, we can prevent it from happening again,” added Graorac.
Sekula Trifković, who was born in Čemerno, said that she was in Ilijaš at the time of the crime, and that three days after that he found his relatives and family members covered with an excavator.
“Early in the morning, the village was surrounded and children, women and old people died. I found them near the cherry tree covered with an excavator, the houses were burnt and now there are none,” Trifković told reporters.
He pointed out that the families of those killed expect the perpetrators of this crime to be punished.
“If there is justice, they should punish everyone who committed crimes against innocent people and children,” Trifković said, adding that 15-year-old Rajko Trifković was killed at the time.
Dragoslav Mijanović, the president of the Zvornik Association of War Veterans, recalled that the crime in Čemerno was the first in the area around Sarajevo, where people were killed not only with weapons, but also with other objects that the killers found in the village.
He said that proceedings for this crime are currently being conducted before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as that the focus of the defense of the suspects is that the village was a military target.
“Civilians died here, and where did the civilians come from on the military objective,” asked Mijanović.
At the memorial in Čemerno today, a memorial service was held and wreaths were laid.
Units from the villages of Korita, Mahmutovića Rijeka and Orahovo and members of the BiH Army from Breza, Visoko and Kakanj attacked Čemerno in the early morning hours of June 10, 1992.
During the attack on this Serbian village, almost all the inhabitants were killed.
For this crime, the proceedings against Džemal Hadžić, Teufik Turudić, Džemal Smola, Senad, Haris and Benjamin Sikira, Enes Durak, Mirsad, Nusret and Mirzet Bešlija, and Hamdija Spahić, who are accused of In 1992, together with other persons known to them, they knowingly and willingly participated in a joint criminal enterprise in the village of Čemerno.
