The images of the reintegration of Grbavica on March 19th, 1996 will remain permanently engraved in the memory of the surviving inhabitants of this settlement and the inhabitants of Sarajevo. Some of the most terrible crimes were committed in Grbavica, Kovacici, and Vraca, and the bodies of some residents were never found. The Balkan Research Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) recalled the events that were determined in the judgments of domestic courts and the Court in The Hague.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Court of BiH found that the Serbian army, police, and paramilitary forces in Grbavica committed persecution, numerous murders, rape, torture, physical and psychological abuse, taking them to detention facilities, robbery and theft of property of Bosniaks and Croats in this settlement, and several inhabitants were taken from their homes and since then all traces of them have been lost.
The crimes in Grbavica were established by the Hague verdicts against the former president of the Republika Srpska (RS), Radovan Karadzic, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Momcilo Krajisnik, the former president of the RS Assembly, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the Court of BiH sentenced Veselin Vlahovic Batko to 42 years in prison, Sasa Baricanin to 18 years, and Zoran Dragicevic, known as “Krompir”, to 11 years. Several cases were processed in the Sarajevo Cantonal Court, and some are still ongoing.
This verdict states that at the end of March and beginning of April 1992, there were a large number of armed persons in these settlements, as well as that Serbian forces took control of Grbavica in May “without much fighting”.
The property of Bosniaks and Croats was, as determined by the verdicts, arbitrarily searched and confiscated, while some were driven from their homes and forced to move to the other bank of Miljacka due to intimidation and threats. Thus, by the end of September 1992, a large number of Grbavica residents were expelled.
From Grbavica, the fire was opened on the rest of Sarajevo
In the area of Grbavica, according to the verdicts of the former commanders of the Sarajevo-Romania Corps, Stanislav Galic, and Dragomir Milosevic, and Karadzic and the former commander of the Main Staff of the Army of RS (VRS), Ratko Mladic, there were positions from which fire was opened on civilians in Sarajevo, regardless of whether they were moving on the street or by tram.
It was established that in several incidents from the area of Grbavica, the fire was opened on civilians from sniper nests and from VRS shooting positions located on the upper floors of all four white skyscrapers in Grbavica, as well as on the top floor of the “Metalka” building. Positions were also distributed in several other buildings in the area.
By opening fire from those positions, in a series of incidents covered by the verdicts, several civilians were killed and wounded, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
