The Association for Social Research and Communication (UDIK) reminds the public of the anniversary of the war crime in the village of Biljani in the region of Ključ.
The attack on the village of Biljani started in the early morning hours of July 10, 1992, and was led by the 17th Light Infantry Brigade of the Serbian Army (VRS) in co-operation with the police officers of the Sanica Police Department.
In this village Serbian forces executed about 260 men, women, children and elderly Bosniaks. The oldest victim was 85 years old Bećo Ćehić, while the youngest victim was a four months baby Amila Džaferagić.
According to the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first mass grave called “Crvena zemlja I” was discovered in November 1995, from which sixteen victims were exhumed. The largest mass grave was “Lanište I”, from which 188 victims were exhumed in the period from October 5 to November 15, 1996. In the area of Biljani, 34 individual graves were also found.
In March 2005, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina filed an indictment against Marko Samardžija, who, as commander of the Third Troop of the Sanica Battalion in the 17th Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS, ordered and participated in the Biljani massacre.
According to the indictment, Samardžija ordered the women to head in the direction of the elementary school in Biljani. Men older than 18 and younger than 60 were first locked up in classrooms and the Cultural Center, and then killed in groups of five to ten. As stated in the indictment, the remaining men were first beaten and then placed in buses with which the rest of the civilian population was taken to the locality “Lanište” and murdered.
War crime in Biljani, Case: Marko Samardžija is a publication, by which UDIK documented this case of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Court determined that Samardžija assisted in the commission of crimes against humanity.
As a result, on November 3, 2006, the Trial Panel of the State Court found Samardžija guilty of crimes against humanity (murder) and sentenced him to 26 years imprisonment. Two years later, the Appellate Panel of the State Court found Marko Samardžija guilty of imprisonment and severe deprivation of liberty, and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
Although most of the bodies of the victims of this massacre have been found and the context of the events has been revealed thanks to the testimonies of the survivors, Samardžija still remains the only one convicted for this war crime. We again appeal to the competent institutions not to forget the victims of this war crime and to engage in finding and prosecuting the perpetrators of this massacre, UDIK stated in the press release.
On the occasion of the anniversary, we remember the killed civilians from the village of Biljani near Ključ.
