In the town of Bradina near Konjic, 34 years ago today, 48 Serbian civilians were killed, out of a total of 88 who were killed in the wider area of Bradina during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On May 25, 1992, Bradina was attacked by members of the Army of the Republic of BiH, the HVO and the MUP of the Republic of BiH. After entering the village, there were murders of civilians, imprisonment in camps and persecution of the population. Those who survived still have a hard time talking about the horrors they experienced.
“Bradina as Bradina never attacked anyone – we were attacked, we died. We suffered monstrously in this part. Rapes of women who even today, I researched, don’t want to say they were raped. In secret sometimes, but don’t talk about it. I don’t know what not to talk about, I don’t know what to do and what?” said the president of the Sarajevo-Romania region of the camp, Slobodan Mrkajić.
He adds that many residents of Bradina went through camps, beatings and abuse, and the families of the victims are still waiting for the court’s epilogue.
“Then they killed my brother. He was wounded. As a wounded man, my father wanted to drive him down to Konjic, but they wouldn’t let him. When they attacked the villages, he couldn’t go, they killed him, massacred him in front of his house,” said former Bradina resident Milivoj Koljanin.
At the anniversary commemoration, it was said that civilian victims must not be forgotten and that those responsible for war crimes must be punished.
“In order to be able to raise future generations, we must be aware of the victims of the past. Here, the victims of the past are terrible, the criminal hand undoubtedly killed civilians – you can see the names and surnames, the ages of the people who were killed,” said the mayor of East Sarajevo, Ljubiša Ćosić.
Advisor and envoy of BiH Presidency member Željka Cvijanović, Boško Tomić, said that this is about persecution: “Today there is not a single Serb except for a priest with two children. Therefore, this is about the persecution of the Serbian people and the Serbian population. Innocents, women, children, died there and unfortunately there are no punishments. Why are there no punishments – because before the war began, Serbs were put forward as someone who was guilty of the beginning and of everything that is happening”.
Thirty-four years after the crimes in Bradina, the families of the victims are still waiting for justice. Although the indictment in the case of ‘Esad Ramić and others’ has been confirmed, no one has yet been convicted of crimes committed against Serbian civilians in this place.
