By throwing 224 roses down the cliff at the site of the mass shooting, family members of the victims, former camp inmates, representatives of all levels of government and numerous citizens today marked the 31st anniversary of the brutal mass shooting of 224 camp inmates who were previously brought to the site executions under the pretext of going on an exchange, at the location of Korićanski stijene, on the Vlašić mountain.
Family members of the murdered, former inmates, numerous citizens, representatives and members of victims’ associations, by throwing roses down the rock into the 300-meter-deep abyss, with tears and prayers remembered the shot inmates, at the place where they were killed after they were ordered to line up along the edge path towards the cliff and kneel down. Then came shots that lasted, according to the testimony of the participants, the criminals, for more than 15 minutes.
The organizers of the event are members of the Association of Prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Regional Association of Prisoners’ Associations of the Banja Luka Region, the Association of Prisoners “Prijedor `92”, the Association of Prisoners Kozarac and the Association of Families of the Dead and Missing “Vrbanja – Kotor Varoš” Travnik.
“The crime against the inmates was committed by the members of the Intervention Platoon of the Republika Srpska Police from Prijedor, under the pretext of “taking the inmates for exchange”. Upon arriving at the Korićan location, the criminals took groups of inmates over the abyss, and began the crime by ordering the inmates to line up and kneel over the abyss. Korićanskhe stijene. With shots in the back of the camp inmates, and with shouts from the police that they are here exchanging “the dead for the dead, and the living for the living”, they kill them for the second time by falling into the Korićan abyss, and the third time they kill the survivors, throwing bombs after them into the abyss “, remind the organizers of the event.
On August 21, 1992, more than 200 inmates, Bosniaks and Croats, who were imprisoned and tortured in the Prijedor camps, were shot at the site of Korićanska stijene, on the Vlašić mountain. A column of buses with inmates left Prijedor for Vlašić under the pretext of an exchange and under the escort of the local police. Only 22 inmates did not get off the bus, so they were taken to Travnik. They took the others to the Korićan rocks, thinking that they would never find them there.
Twelve people survived the massacre at Korićanske stijene. Their testimonies contributed to some of the criminals receiving the well-deserved sentences.
For the crime on Korićanske stijene before the Hague Tribunal and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following were sentenced: Darko Mrđa to 17 years in prison, Damir Ivanković to 14 years, Gordan Đurić to eight years, Ljubiša Četić to 13 years, Zoran Babić to 22 years, Milorad Škrbić to 21 years , Dušan Janković for 21 years, Željko Stojnić for 15 years, Saša Zečević for 23 years, Marinko Lepoja for 23 years and Radoslav Knežević for 23 years in prison.
