The Association for Social Research and Communication (UDIK) reminds the public of the anniversary of the war crime in the village of Biljani in the region of Ključ. The attack on this village started in the morning hours of July 10, 1992, and was led by the 17th Light Infantry Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army (VRS) with the help of police officers of the Sanica Police Department.
In this village Serbian forces executed about 260 men, women, children and elderly Bosniaks. The oldest victim was 85 years old Bećo Ćehić, while the youngest victim was a four months baby Amila Džaferagić.
According to the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the mass graves in which the Biljani massacre victims were found were mostly discovered in 1995 and 1996. The first mass grave discovered was “Crvena zemlja I”, from which sixteen victims were exhumed. The largest mass grave was “Lanište I”, from which 188 victims were exhumed in the period from October 5 to November 15, 1996. In the area of Biljani, 34 individual graves were also found.
In November 2006, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced the commander of the Third Troop of the Sanica Battalion in the 17th Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS Marko Samardžija to 26 years in prison who “as part of a broad or systematic attack directed against the civilian population, knowing about such an attack, assisted in depriving other persons of their lives (murder)”. The second-instance verdict found Samardžija guilty of imprisonment and severe deprivation of liberty and sentenced to seven years in prison. “War crime in Biljani, Case: Marko Samardžija“ was published by UDIK in 2020.
Marko Ademović and Boško Lukić were also tried for this crime and they were convicted of crimes against humanity in Ključ, but were acquitted for the attack on the village of Biljani. For the Biljani massacre, the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H also charged the former commander of the 17th Light Infantry Brigade Drago Samardžija. The proceedings against him never started, and he died in Serbia in 2021.
Although the testimonies of the survivors revealed the context of the Biljani massacre, Marko Samardžija is still the only person convicted for this crime. We appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and all other competent institutions to speed up the process of filing indictments. The perpetrators of this massacre must be prosecuted so that the victims can rest in peace.
On the occasion of the anniversary, we remember the killed civilians from the village of Biljani near Ključ.
Photo: Faktor
