It can never be forgotten, said Hasan Banda, who was seriously wounded in the massacre at Sarajevo’s Markale market 31 years ago.
“That day, I came to Markale to buy something for the children. I was badly wounded. I heard screams. They took me to the hospital where I stayed for a month,” Banda recalled on the anniversary of the commemoration of the Day of Remembrance for all the killed and wounded citizens of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995 and the 31st anniversary of the massacre at Sarajevo’s Markale market.
Even though decades have passed, it’s hard to remember those days, he still lives it all today and the memories don’t fade.
“It can never be forgotten,” he added.
The first of two massacres at the Markale market, in the center of Sarajevo, took place on February 5, 1994, between 12:10 and 12:20 p.m., when a 120-millimeter mortar shell was fired from the aggressor positions of the then Army of Republika Srpska, which were located in the Mrkovići area. The shell fell on the crowded market, killing 68 citizens, while 142 were seriously and slightly wounded.
Among the dead was Dževad Durmo, the son of Bulka Suljić’s uncle, who came to the commemoration at the Sarajevo market today.
“I am a former concentration camp inmate. My husband and son were killed in the war. Memories of the war and Markale will always be fresh. It cannot be forgotten,” she added.
Flowers were laid at Markale today, among others, by a delegation of the Union of Civilian Victims of War of the Sarajevo Canton with the families of the killed and members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić and Denis Bećirović.
“We in Bosnia and Herzegovina must be tireless guardians of the truth, and that means calling aggressors aggressors and war criminals war criminals,” said Bećirović.
He also spoke about this at the UN General Assembly, before the UN Security Council and at numerous international conferences.
“We must never forget the truth. A people who forget their past risks having it repeated in the present and the future. We must never allow that,” added Bećirović, stating that we must always bear witness to the truth and fight for a more just Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On this day 31 years ago, 68 people were killed and 142 were wounded by the explosion of a mortar shell fired from a position of the Army of Republika Srpska.
The following were killed: Senad Arnautović, Ibrahim Babić, Mehmed Baručija, Ćamil Begić, Emir Begović, Vahida Bešić, Gordana Bogdanović, Vaskrsije Bojinović, Muhamed Borovina, Faruk Brkanić, Sakib Bulbul, Jelena Čavriz, Almasa Čehajić, Zlatko Čosić, Alija Čukojević, Verica Ćilimdžić, Smilja Delić, Ifet Drugovac, Dževad Durmo, Fatima Durmo, Kemal Džebo, Ismet Fazlić, Vejsil Ferhatbegović, Dževdet Fetahović, Muhamed Fetahović, Ahmed Fočo, Majda Ganović, Isma Gibović, Rasema Hasanović, Alija Hurko, Mirsada Ibrulj, Mustafa Imanić, Rasema Jažić, Razija Junuzović, Hasija Karavdić, Mladen Klačar, Marija Knežević, Selma Kovač, Ibro Krajčin, Sejda Kunić, Jozo Kvesić, Numo Lakača, Ruža Malović, Jadranka Minić, Safer Music, Nura Odžak, Mejra Orman, Hajrija Oručević, Seid Prozorac, Smajo Rahić, Igor Rehar, Sabit Rizvo, Zahida Sablja, Nedžad Salihović, Hajrija Smajić, Emina Srnja, Džemo Subasic, Sacir Suljević, Hasib Šabanović, Ahmed Šehbajraktarević, Bejto Škrijelj, Junuz Švrakić, Pašaga Tihić, Munib Torlaković, Ruždija Trbić, Džemil Zečić, Muhamed Zubović and Senad Žunić, the Protocol and Press Service of the Sarajevo Canton announced.
The market and the closed Markale market in the old part of Sarajevo were shelled twice during the siege of the city. After February 1994, in a massacre at the very end of the war, on August 28, 1995, 43 civilians were killed and 84 wounded near the Markale City Market.
