The 28th anniversary of the crime committed in front of the City Market in Sarajevo, when 43 citizens of Sarajevo, including three children, were killed by a shell fired from a position of the Republika Srpska Army (VRS), was marked by laying flowers, reading the poetry of the recently deceased writer Marko Vesovic and reciting prayers,
Hasreta Hodzic came this year as well to pay her respects to Jasmina Hodzic, the daughter of her husband’s brother, who was killed on August 28th, 1995 in front of the City Market when a grenade fell.
As she told, Jasmina was 32 years old and was about to get married.
“She stopped by her friend’s house to talk and buy something on the way. I called her mother through the radio amateur to hear what happened, I experienced stress after the news. I often think of her letters. Whenever I see the anniversaries of some crimes on television, I remember her,” Hodzic told.
Every year, Lejla Tricic comes from the United States (U.S.) to mark this anniversary. Her grandmother Halida Cepic died in this place 28 years ago.
“She raised me. I remember her fritters, pie and breakfast that she made for us grandchildren. There has been a big void in my life after her loss, from which I never recovered,” says Tricic.
Alija Hodzic was then engaged in the First Brigade of the Stari Grad Sarajevo Police, whose headquarters were not far from the scene of the incident. He says that immediately after the explosion, they ran outside, not thinking that another shell might fall, which was a common practice during the siege of Sarajevo.
“You don’t know who to take first and put in the car, to drive him to the hospital and rescue him. It’s like your legs are cut off, you can’t run, blood and bodies everywhere. You think, ‘I should save the younger one first,'” says Hodzic through tears.
Sefika Skorupan was wounded by a shell in 1993, since then she has been in a wheelchair, and on August 28th, 1995, as she says, she was at the physiatry when they started bringing in the wounded.
“There were so many emergencies that day. Small cars were bringing the wounded. I just looked and saw a girl, whose body was dragged without a head. Another had her hand hanging on her membrane,” Sefika recalls, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
