Today marks the anniversary of the abduction of sixteen Bosniak civilians from Sjeverin (Priboj, Serbia).
On October 22, 1992, members of the Serbian paramilitary formation Avengers, commanded by Milan Lukić, kidnapped sixteen passengers from Rudo – Priboj bus in the Bosnian village of Mioče near Višegrad. Fifteen men and one woman were taken by truck to the hotel Vilina Vlas in Višegrad, where they were killed after several days of abuse, and their bodies were thrown into the Drina River. The night before this event, Sabahudin Ćatović was abducted in front of the family house. He has been missing since then. All victims were citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. So far, the remains of only one victim (Medredin Hodžić) have been found, while the others are still missing.
For this crime were sentenced Dragutin Dragićević, Milan Lukić and Oliver Krsmanović to twenty years and Đorđe Šević to fifteen years in prison, the Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK) writes.
On the thirty-first anniversary of this monstrous crime, we are witnessing a time in which being different or minority today, as well as in the 1990s, means being the target of warmongering policies for the sake of cheap political points and nationalist ideologies. We once again appeal to the state of Serbia to take the necessary steps so that the victims of the Sjeverin massacre get the status of civilian war victims and to finally establish financial compensation for the families of the victims. Dealing with the past is a long and difficult process that leads to the healing of a society. But that path is only possible if everyone is treated equally and if justice is equally accessible to everyone.
On this occasion, we remember the victims of the Sjeverin massacre: Alija Mandal, Derviš Softić, Esad Džihić, Idriz Gibović, Hajrudin Sajtarević, Medredin Hodžić, Mehmed Šebo, Medo Hodžić, Mevlida Koldžić, Mithad Softić, Mujo Alihodžić, Mustafa Bajramović, Ramahudin Ćatović, Ramiz Begović, Sabahudin Ćatović, Sead Pecikoza i Zafer Hadžić.
