The 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of the capital in the modern history of warfare, was marked by the laying of flowers and tributes on the Suada and Olga Bridge.
The mayor of Sarajevo, Predrag Puharić, said that by marking the Day of the Siege of Sarajevo on April 5, the culture of memory is being nurtured. He reminded that Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić, killed on this day in 1992 on the bridge in the center of Sarajevo, were the first civilian victims of the siege.
“This is something we must never forget, those victims must never cease to be important. The truth about what happened in Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina must never be forgotten, different interpretations must not be allowed,” said Puharić.
The siege of Sarajevo began on April 5, 1992, and ended on February 29, 1996. It lasted almost four years.
Around 350,000 residents of Sarajevo were exposed to daily fire from members of the former Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and paramilitary formations, and later members of the then Army of Republika Srpska, using almost all types of weapons, from positions located on the surrounding hills. They were unable to take the city only thanks to the enormous will, desire and efforts of the defenders, mostly citizens who responded to the call for defense, and at first almost bare-handed, in sneakers and jeans, with minimal weapons, stood on the city’s ramparts.
On average, 329 shells were fired at Sarajevo daily. In total, around 50,000 tons of artillery shells were fired at the city.
During the siege, 11,541 citizens of Sarajevo died, including 1,601 children. According to post-war research, most of the population, almost four-fifths of the total number of deaths, died in the first two years of the war.
