At the invitation of the Association of Families and Friends of Missing Persons “Suza” from Rogatica, a mixed group of war veterans from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, former members of the Army of the Republic of BiH (ARBiH), the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS), The Croatian Army (HV) and the Yugoslav Army (VJ) and peace activists from the region, organized by the Center for Nonviolent Action, attended today the commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the beginning of the suffering of the non-Serb population in the area of Rogatica.
“According to court data, in a broad and systematic attack by the Army of Republika Srpska, police and paramilitary units in the spring and summer of 1992, several hundred Bosniak civilians in the area of Rogatica were killed, a larger number were detained, while the rest of the non-Serb population was exiled,” the Center announced.
The statement states that, according to the data of the “Suza” Association, about 1,500 people were killed, while, according to the data of the Institute for Searching for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the remains of about 300 people from the Rogatica area have not been found to date.
“War crimes in the area of Rogatica were prosecuted before the Hague Tribunal, where the political and military leaders of Republika Srpska (Radovan Karadžić, Momčilo Krajišnik, Ratko Mladić) were convicted of crimes in this city, before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in several cases, and the High Court in Belgrade, where The trial of Rajko Kušić, the former commander of the Rogatic Brigade of the VRS, is in progress,” the statement said.
According to the protocol of the organizers of the commemoration, the first part of the program was held in the Rogatica village of Rakitnica, after which a parade was held, from the building of the Municipality of Rogatica to the Šudžaudin mosque, where the religious part of the program was held.
“Today, we are here to express our support to the families and friends of the victims on the day when they commemorate the suffering of the Bosniak population in the area of Rogatica, and to join their appeal to the competent institutions, but also to individuals who have any information about the fate of the missing, to help finally find the bodies remains and to at least in this way ease the agony of the families that they are going through for the third decade,” said Amer Delić, a war veteran from Zavidovići and a member of the Center for Nonviolent Action team.
He added that those from the Center for Nonviolent Action, together with peace activists from the region, including war veterans and former camp inmates, cooperate with representatives of the war victims’ association in an effort to have them all attend the days of remembrance for the victims and honor them regardless of their ethnicity, to express regret for all the lives lost and to point out the importance of acknowledging the suffering of every human being.
“We have chosen the path of respect, solidarity, understanding and dialogue, which we believe will contribute to building a culture of remembrance that would lead to the return of trust between our peoples, which is the basis for building lasting peace and reconciliation in our region,” Delić concluded.
In their invitation to attend this year’s commemoration, the Association “Suza” focuses on the necessity of additional efforts to find the remains of those killed.
The statement states that by attending the commemoration, former members of the HV, HVO, RBiH Army, VRS and VJ and peace activists joined the call to the competent authorities to make additional efforts to find the remains.
Activists of the Center for Nonviolent Action in 2017 marked the site of the “Nursery” in Rogatica, an unmarked site of suffering until now, which was the place of detention, inhumane treatment and murder of around 40 detainees.
“Today we are here in the village of Rakitnica, near Rogatica, where we came to pay our respects to all the innocently killed civilians, who were Bosniaks. We, as war veterans, from all the armies from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, came here to pay our respects tribute to all those who died and it is very important that we can do it in all the places in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which there are many, there are too many of them. But we simply have to come and try to give each other a hand of peace to support our future lives,” Mirko Zečević Tadić, former member of the HVO from Brčko, said.
“I am delighted and I cannot tell you how happy I am that these people came to share our pain. It means a lot of visits from war veterans and peace activists,” said Maida Ćurevac, from the Association of Families and Friends of Missing Persons “Suza” from Rogatica, noting that they especially expect additional support from the media and the prosecutor’s office, according to the statement of the Center for Nonviolent Action.
