Thirty-four years have passed since the abduction of civilians from Sjeverin, a locality in the municipality of Priboj, Serbia. On October 22, 1992, members of the Serbian paramilitary unit “Osvetnici” (“The Avengers”), under the command of Milan Lukić, abducted 16 Bosniaks – employees of companies based in Priboj – who were traveling to work on a scheduled bus operating the Priboj – Rudo – Priboj route. All of the abducted civilians were killed.
In 2005, the District Court in Belgrade convicted Milan Lukić, Oliver Krsmanović, and Dragutin Dragićević for this crime, sentencing each to 20 years in prison, while Đorđe Šević was sentenced to 15 years. According to the verdict, the convicted individuals – along with five other unidentified persons – tortured the civilians, violated their physical integrity, and ultimately killed them on the morning of October 22, 1992, as reported by the Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK) in Sarajevo.
The crime took place after Milan Lukić stopped a bus belonging to the “Raketa” company (based in Užice) in the village of Mioče, located in the municipality of Rudo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Accompanied by two unidentified individuals, he boarded the bus and checked the passengers’ identities. Subsequently, 15 men and one woman were taken off the bus. They were then transported by a truck – driven by Oliver Krsmanović – to the “Vilina Vlas” hotel in Višegrad. In front of the hotel, they were searched and their personal documents were confiscated; subsequently, they were taken into the hotel lobby and physically abused with wooden clubs. Afterward, they were transported to the banks of the Drina River, where they were killed.
The abduction from the bus was preceded by the seizure of Sabahudin Ćatović, who was taken during the night from in front of his family home; all trace of him was lost from that moment on. To date, the remains of only one victim, Medredin Hodžić, have been found, while the search for the other missing individuals continues.
