Everyone must remember those who gave their lives during the most difficult days of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was pointed out at the joint commemorative session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, the Sarajevo City Council and the municipal councils from the Sarajevo Canton area, which was organized today on the occasion of marking the Day of Remembrance of all citizens of Sarajevo killed and wounded by the aggressors during the siege of the city from 1992 to 1995.
Local authorities in Sarajevo and citizens pointed out that 29 years have passed since one of the most terrible days for Sarajevo when 68 people were killed, and 142 people were injured in the explosion of a mortar shell fired from the aggressor’s positions at the Markale Market.
Vice-Speaker of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Vibor Handžić, reminded that February 5 was chosen as the Day of Remembrance because a terrible crime and the biggest massacre in the city took place on that day. During the four-year siege of the city, more than 12,000 people, including 1,601 children, and around 50,000 persons were wounded.
Handžić urged not to forget the innocent victims and the committed crimes of the aggressors, adding that everyone must remember the citizens who gave their lives for freedom and homeland.
Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Sciences of the University of Sarajevo, Zuhdija Hasanović, who addressed the commemorative session, said that the years pass, but the emptiness in the hearts remains. He stated that the wounds do not heal but become even greater when you see the places where citizens were killed.
He said that during the siege, everyone stood to defend the city and Bosnia and Herzegovina, fully aware that if the capital falls, Bosnia and Herzegovina will also fall, the cradle of centuries-old diversity and life together will disappear, the dream of a country between the worlds that connects them like a bridge will be dispersed.
“There were not many of us, but we were united. Everyone who stayed in the city was united and the focus was on what we had in common,” stressed Hasanović in his address to the people gathered at the National Theater.
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo’s Markale Market was one of the places where citizens could get basic food items, which were lacking during the four-year siege.
