The 31st anniversary of the martyrdom of Bosniaks in Biljani near Kljuc was marked with the “Martyrs’ Routes of Brkic and Botonjic”, reciting the Surah Ya-Sin and visiting mass graves.
Namely, on July 10th, 1992, 258 men, women, and children were killed in one day, among them the youngest, Amila Dzaferagic, a three-month-old baby whose remains were found in her mother’s arms.
The families of the victims still have fresh memories of that day. Among them is Nesima Avdic, whose only son Elvir, who was only 19 at the time, was killed.
“They brought us in front of the shop, and they brought them there where the mosque is now. Some had their hands on their backs, others on their necks. And those who killed them carried pistols, rifles, and knives, sharpened those knives in front of us, cursed, beat, killed…,” says Nesima Avdic through tears.
In just one day, 258 people, women, and children were killed, and that crime was not called genocide in any judgment. Only Marko Samardzija, professor of history, who killed them in front of the school where he taught them, was convicted of individual responsibility. He died and did not serve his sentence.
“As a person, I am also concerned that the Prosecutor’s Office, even after 30 years, has not found the strength to conduct a worthy investigation. Everything is clear here, Marko Samardzija, the brigade commander on July 9th, 1992 wrote the order for the attack on July 10th and the engagement of the Sanica Battalion. We have a brigade commander, a battalion commander, company commanders, platoon commanders, and immediate enforcers. An average prosecutor can put this in order in a short time to ease the pain and sorrow of us citizens of Biljani, to punish the perpetrators,” Amir Avdic stated, wartime commander of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and former mayor of Kljuc.
During the aggression against BiH, most of the summer of 1992, more than 700 people were killed in Kljuc, and the people of Kljuc were killed and exhumed in eight other cities. About 1.000 of them passed through the war camps. In that fateful summer of 1992, all the non-Serb population, about 17.000 inhabitants of Kljuc, were expelled.
“This was committed by our neighbors and that is why we must be bold and courageous, but we must never again believe that the international community or someone else will bring us peace and security in BiH. We have to defend this country ourselves, as we defended it in 1992. To draw experience from that struggle, and today in peace to invite our neighbors, Serbs, and Croats, to build a state, but a state where we will all be safe and secure and that this kind of crime will never happen again,” said Refik Lendo, Vice-President of the Federation of BiH (FBiH).
The Government of the Una-Sana Canton (USC) has declared July 10th as the Day of Mourning.
E.Dz.
