Family members of genocide victims and numerous citizens gathered on Friday at the Godinjska Bara killing ground in Trnovo, the place where, exactly 31 years ago, members of the infamous Serbian unit “Scorpions” shot six Bosniaks from Srebrenica, the youngest of whom was 16 years old, with shots in the back.
Family members and representatives of the Organizing Committee for the Commemoration of the Genocide in Srebrenica, numerous Srebrenica residents and local residents visited the place of suffering, where even after more than three decades there are no memorials, where flowers were laid, passages from the Qur’an were studied. A short history lesson was also held with a reminder of the sufferings of Bosniaks.
Six Bosniaks, boys and men from Srebrenica, were brutally killed by shots from behind by members of the Serbian unit “Scorpions” in July 1995 in Trnovo. Safet Fejzić (17), Azmir Alispahić (16), Sidik Salkić (36), Smail Ibrahimović (35), Dino Salihović (18) and Juso Delić (25) were killed.
“A hero is not one who shoots a man in the back with his hands tied”
Sejdalija Delić, the brother of the murdered Jusa Delić, who was 25 years old at the time of the murder, was among those gathered today at the location of Godinjske Bare. He said that the family has been coming to the crime scene for 31 years to pay their respects to the innocent victims.
“Here, after 31 years, we come here to study Fatiha and pay tribute to these innocent young men who were tortured and killed in a monstrous and beastly manner,” Delić said.
He recalled the moment he first watched the video of the execution, saying he couldn’t recognize his own brother because of the gravity of the crime.
“When I first watched that footage, I was petrified. I imagined myself among those guys, because I went through all that myself. I came out into free territory after more than two months of wandering. I watched that footage and imagined that I could have been in their place,” he said.
He added that his brother’s identity was only confirmed after DNA analysis.
“I couldn’t recognize him, and maybe it’s better that I didn’t. It was only the DNA analysis that confirmed that my brother was among the killed. Later, based on the shirt he left in, we definitely determined that it was him,” Delić said.
He pointed out that he is particularly pained by the fact that even three decades after the crime at Godinjski bara, there is no worthy memorial.
“After 31 years, we don’t even have a memorial plaque in this place. I have no words for it. The world betrayed us. Srebrenica was a protected zone, and when it was supposed to fall, we were left alone. Today, there is talk again about various divisions, about a third entity, and all of this is tolerated,” he said.
Speaking about the members of the “Scorpions” unit and the crime itself, Delić said that people who kill captured and bound civilians cannot be heroes.
“These are not heroes, they are cowards. A hero is not someone who shoots a man in the back with his hands tied. These are murderers who committed crimes throughout the war,” he said.
Subašić: We are sorry that there is no memorial
The president of the Association “Mothers of the Srebrenica and Žepa Enclave”, Munira Subašić, said that the greatest sadness is that the crime scene has not been marked even today.
“I am sorry that we do not have a memorial here, because what is recorded is not forgotten. Today, it is no longer a question of where we will go, because almost every place in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a grave,” said Subašić.
She said that “every place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially in the territory of the Republika Srpska entity, is soaked with the blood of innocent people,” adding that she sometimes fears walking on the bones of someone’s child.
She called on mothers of all nationalities to unite in condemning the crime and preserving the truth.
“We give birth to children out of love and we must raise and seek them out of love. That is why I call on all mothers in the world, and especially mothers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to unite, condemn evil and all that has happened. I call on the young to learn and write, because what remains written will not be forgotten,” she said.
Subasic also appealed to families who have found the remains of their loved ones to give their consent for their burial.
“Every person has the right to their own mark when they are born. No matter how big the difference is between the living and the dead, the difference between the dead and the missing is even greater. The dead have their place, and the missing are as if they never existed,” she said.
The video went around the world
The crime against six Bosniak civilians was recorded on camera by members of the “Scorpion”. During the trial of Slobodan Milošević in 2005, a recording of the shooting was published, after which it went around the world.
The video shows several members of the “Scorpion”, some of whom have red berets on their heads, taking out six tied civilians from the truck. With derogatory words and insults, they then lead them into the forest, and then in the clearing, they kill four of them from behind with individual shots and volleys.
The perpetrators then shot the victims on the ground in the head from close range. The remaining two prisoners were forced to carry the bodies, and then the “Scorpions” also killed them in a nearby semi-destroyed house.
Multi-year prison terms for perpetrators
In May 2023, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts in The Hague sentenced the former heads of the State Security Service (SDB) of Serbia, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, to 15 years in prison each for a joint criminal enterprise in six municipalities in BiH, including the crime in Trnovo.
In addition, by the judgment of the High Court in Belgrade from 2007, four former members of the paramilitary unit “Škorpioni” – Slobodan Medić, Branislav Medić, Pero Petrašević and Aleksandar Medić – were sentenced to a total of 53 years in prison for the murders of Srebrenica residents committed near Trnovo.
In Croatia, former members of the “Scorpions” Milorad Momić and Slobodan Davidović were each sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime near Trnovo, AA writes.
