The Association for Social Research and Communication (UDIK) reminds the public of the 27th anniversary of the suffering of Sarajevo civilians who were killed on February 5, 1994 at Markale (marketplace) by the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the siege of the Sarajevo in the Bosnian war.
The first massacre occurred between 12:10 and 12:20, on February 5, 1994 when a 120 millimeter mortal shell landed in the center of the crowded marketplace. Rescue workers and United Nations (UN) personnel rushed to help the numerous civilian casualties, while footage of the event soon made news reports across the world. 68 people were killed and 144 more were wounded.
The Markale massacre is a war crime, and another evidence of the inhumanity, brutality and absurdity of the Bosnian war. The Markale massacre is the paradigm of all Serbian crimes in the siege of Sarajevo. The war crime happened right there because Markale was a gathering place for all citizens, civilians, different ages, different professions, different ethnicities and genders.
As representatives of civil society, we have an obligation and a duty to talk about Markale: because of the victims, because of history and ultimately because of future generations. Marking the Markale massacre anniversary should be and remain a genuine act of combating inhumanity and non-forgetting all the evil that was happening to Sarajevo during the nineties.
