Višegrad is one of the municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the largest number of women and children killed, especially children under the age of ten, Amor Mašović, a man who became a symbol of the search for those who disappeared during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, told Anadolija news agency.
For a long period of time, he worked as the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he retired a few years ago.
“In my memory, there are two Višegrads and neither one is beautiful. One is the war Višegrad, the city of child killers and femicides. I testified about this before the Hague Tribunal in the proceedings against the war criminal Mitar Vasiljević, the war criminals Milan and Sredoje Lukić and the war criminal Radovan Karadžić
“So, Višegrad is one of the municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the largest number of women and children killed, especially children under the age of ten,” Mašović said.
Some of the most horrific crimes from the wars in the former Yugoslavia were committed in Višegrad, and the live pyres in Bikavac and in Pionirska Street, during the trial of Milan Lukić in The Hague, were characterized as examples of inhumanity in the long and sad history of man’s inhumanity to another man.
In the houses of Adem Omeragić in Pionirska on June 14, and MehoAljić in Bikavac on June 27, 1992, more than 140 women, children and the elderly were burned alive. The youngest victim, a baby in her mother’s arms in Pionirska Street, was only two days old and didn’t even have a name at the time of her death.
“And there is that post-war, today’s Višegrad, which is also not beautiful, I don’t perceive it as such, and it is a city of silence. It is a city of occasional denial of the crimes committed by the citizens of Višegrad, their neighbors, against their neighbors Bosniaks, partially Croats and Albanians, so that let’s forget because Višegrad is a city of suffering and Albanians who moved there and engaged in various trades,” explained Mašović.
He emphasized that Višegrad is also a city of occasional glorification of those crimes.
“Let’s just remember the reception of the war criminal Mitar Vasiljević in Višegrad, when the whole of Višegrad was on fire to the music that welcomed a war criminal, after he was prematurely released from prison,” Mašović said.
The remains of eight victims of the past war are ready for a collective funeral and burial, which will take place today at the Stražište cemetery in Višegrad.
These are Bosniak victims who were killed in 1992, and whose remains were exhumed in the past years in the area of Višegrad, Srebrenica and Žepa.
“And this funeral is again a funeral for women. The largest number of Višegrad residents, unfortunately, perhaps even greater than this number that has been found in a large number of mass and individual graves, are found in the morgues in Goražde, Visoko and in the cemetery in Stražište, and the largest number in the largest mass grave in the Balkans, perhaps in Europe, in the river Drina, i.e. Lake Perućac,” said Mašović.
According to him, the primary tombs and the Drina river as a tomb are mostly in question in that area.
“Many of these victims were found far from the place where they were killed. Some were killed in Višegrad, and their bodies sailed to Slap, which is about 30 kilometers downstream from Višegrad. We found the citizens of Višegrad in Lake Perućac, even in the area of the neighboring Serbia, along the right bank. Višegrad represents a mass of the most monstrous crimes, from the rape of women, old women and girls, to the end of the Uzamnica camp and killing in that camp, via the method of killing on the bridge, slaughtering, shooting to ‘live pyres,'” Mašović explained.
The remains of eight victims of the past war are ready for a collective funeral and burial, which will take place today at the Stražište cemetery in Višegrad.
These are Bosniak victims who were killed in 1992, and whose remains were exhumed in the past years in the area of Višegrad, Srebrenica and Žepa.
The youngest victim who will be buried this year in Visegrad is Munevera (Salko) Šabanija, born in 1970 in Visegrad.
She was only 22 years old when, in 1992, she was killed in the area of Visegrad. In the decades after her death, her remains were found and exhumed in two different locations, namely Stražište, in 2005, and Đurevića Polje, in 2010.
This year, the brothers Jašarević, Hajdar and Senad will find their final resting place after thirty years in Višegrad, at the Stražište cemetery. They disappeared in 1992, and their remains were exhumed in different locations eight and ten years after their death.
Jašarević (Mujo) Hajdar was only 28 years old when he was killed in the area of the Rogatica municipality in 1992. His remains were exhumed from a mass grave that was discovered in 2000 at the Slap – Žepa site.
His older brother Senad was 36 years old when he was killed in Visegrad. His remains were exhumed in 2002 at the location of Gornja Crnča.
Two more women will be buried in Visegrad. One of them is Asima (Asim) Tvrtković, born in 1952 in Višegrad. She disappeared in 1992, and her remains were exhumed in 2010 in Stražište, Višegrad municipality.
Hana (Abdullah) Mujezinović, born in 1941 in Višegrad, will also be buried this year. Her remains were exhumed in 2008 at the Sjedače site in Srebrenica.
Hasib (Hašim) Nuhanović, born in 1954 in Visegrad, will also find his final peace. He also disappeared in 1992, and his remains were exhumed in July last year at the location of Gornja Crnča.
Osman (Šaban) Ribac, born in 1932 in Višegrad, will also be buried. His remains were also exhumed in Stražište in Višegrad in 2010.
The oldest victim who will be buried this year in Visegrad is Amir (Ćamila) Omerović. He was 62 years old at the time of his death, and his remains were exhumed 30 years later, at the Gornja Crnča site in Višegrad.
