The 33rd anniversary of the deaths of 311 Croats from Bugojno was marked at the memorial in the Sultanovići Catholic cemetery in Bugojno. Although 33 years have passed, 15 Croats from Bugojno are still being sought, and the process against those responsible, the association points out, is taking too long.
Sarafina Kolovrat is lighting a candle for her loved ones today. During 1993, 311 Croats were killed in Bugojno, including a significant part of her family.
“My son and husband were killed. Igor was 18.5 years and six days old, he had just finished high school, and my husband was killed too, today they were killed. My son Kristijan was also killed and was wounded, but, thank God, he survived,” says Sarafina Kolovrat, a member of the family of the murdered Croats from Bugojno.
More than two thousand people were in the camps, 550 of whom were in the “Stadion” camp, the Association of Camp Inmates points out. A number of camp inmates never found eternal peace.
“We are searching for another 15 people who were taken away and disappeared, who were killed in the most cruel way in Rostov. Their remains are probably in Rostov, but we cannot find the exact location,” says Miroslav Zelić, president of the Association of Homeland War Camp Inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“It is shameful that no one anonymously told the parents where the bones are, where these people are. These are people, they deserve a grave. Thank God, I was lucky in the accident that I buried mine and I know where I will light a candle,” says Sarafina Kolovrat.
Eight members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been convicted of crimes against Croats, and the trial against two of them is underway.
“Now the witnesses for the defense of Dževad Mlaće and Selmo Cikotić need to be called. We are not entirely satisfied with the trial because it is obvious that it is dragging on, probably because the accused are not in a favorable position,” says Miroslav Zelić, president of the Association of Homeland War Camp Inmates in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“This is a reminder that this kind of evil should never happen again to anyone, with the expectation of justice for all those who ordered and committed this crime and were never held accountable for it,” said the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lidija Bradara.
Many officials paid their respects to the victims, after which the parish church of St. Ante Holy Mass for the innocent victims.
