The Association of Families of Missing Persons from the Kalinovik Area “Istina Kalinovik 92” held a commemoration for the 33rd anniversary of the suffering of Bosniak civilians from the Kalinovik area, visiting the sites of killings and camps and paying tribute to the victims.
The president of the Association “Istina Kalinovik 92,” Samir Vranovic, emphasizes that the remains of 42 Bosniaks from Kalinovik are still being searched for, and the families of the victims are demanding information about the locations from the authorities in Kalinovik. They fear that it will be difficult to locate the remains of their family members due to relocation to other locations, including secondary and tertiary mass graves.
“The remains of those people who were killed were moved to other locations. We cannot find their remains at the sites of shootings and killings – they are at different locations,” says Vranovic.
He calls on all those who have information to help them find their family members and bury them in a dignified manner.
He notes that no one has yet been held accountable for the raising of a mural and monument in Kalinovik to the convicted war criminal – former Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) commander Ratko Mladic. He appeals to the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to launch an investigation, reminding that under the amendments to the Criminal Code imposed in 2021 by the High Representative in BiH, glorifying war criminals and denying genocide are criminal offenses.
The commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the persecution and suffering of Bosniak civilians in Kalinovik was also attended by Prof. Dr. David Pettigrew, professor of philosophy and Holocaust and genocide studies at Southern Connecticut State University and a member of the Board of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University.
Together with the members of the Association “Istina Kalinovik 92,” he appealed to the relevant authorities to ensure the right to install memorials at the sites of crimes in Kalinovik, including a memorial museum and cemetery at the Barutni Magacin (Gunpowder Depot) concentration camp. He called on those in power to prevent the glorification of convicted war criminals in Kalinovik.
“Standing together, we remember the victims in Kalinovik, especially those whose remains have not yet been identified. Today, we remember them as well as all those who suffered in Kalinovik. Together, we condemn hate speech, genocide denial, and threats of secession, and we nurture a culture of remembrance that is key to the birth of peace, justice and hope for a democratic future,” he said yesterday.
A total of 122 Bosniaks were killed in the Kalinovik area during the war in BiH. The Association states that so far, a total of 93 years of prison sentences have been handed down for crimes in Kalinovik, but that the key perpetrators of those crimes against civilians are still at large.
As part of the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the suffering of Bosniak civilians from the Kalinovik area, a visit to six locations was held yesterday – these are the sites of killings and camps from the period of the war in BiH. The first was the Rogoj Pass, then the site of a collection camp through which more than a thousand people from the areas of Kalinovik, Foca, Trnovo, Gacko, and Nevesinje passed, as well as other locations that during the war in BiH were sites of Bosniak suffering in that area.
The commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the suffering of Bosniak civilians from the Kalinovik area was also attended by representatives of various levels of government, Federalna writes.
