Today, the 32nd anniversary of the horrific crime in which the Croatian National Defense (HVO) units killed 116 Bosniak civilians was marked in Ahmići near Vitez. The youngest victim was a three-month-old baby, while the oldest was 82 years old.
On that fateful morning, April 16, 1993, members of the special purpose units of the Croatian Defense Council “Džokeri” and “Maturice” attacked the village of Ahmići. Enisa Ahmić-Mulić, then fourteen years old, still bears deep scars today. She watched her family disappear that morning. 48 members were killed. They shot her father before her eyes, killed Amija and his three children, among them a three-month-old baby. Her testimony remains a powerful warning and reminder of the atrocities committed against civilians.
“At 5:30 in the morning, we were woken up by gunshots. Of course, we didn’t know that we were surrounded and that they were killing. The father went to the door, but in the hope that he would not touch the women and children, the father went out. ‘Come on, balija, get out!’ “Then there’s a burst. They didn’t skimp on the bullets. And his father’s last cry is still in his head to this day,” said the survivor.
116 Bosniak civilians were killed in the crime in Ahmići. Eleven children and 32 women were among those killed. The village was razed and burned, two mosques were mined and demolished. Today it is peaceful and exudes peace and quiet, however, there is no confession of crime, and therefore no coexistence.
“We are witnessing that the other side shows no remorse, and without sincere remorse there is no forgiveness.”
The International Tribunal for War Crimes Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia ruled that the murders in Ahmići were crimes against humanity. Six HVO members were sentenced to a total of 95 years in prison. The highest sentence of 25 years was given to Dario Kordić.
He was released in 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, numerous HDZ politicians welcomed him as a hero, including HDZ president Dragan Čović, current chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Krišto, and Marinko Čavara.
However, in contrast to them, an anti-war action was organized in Zagreb today, in memory of the victims of Ahmici, which for the third year in a row is trying to impose an initiative by a group of non-governmental associations to give Zagreb a Square of Ahmic Victims.
“We demand from the Croatian authorities to responsibly deal with the war crime committed in our name by marking this date and paying homage to the civilian victims killed in our name on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” they said, Federalna writes.
