Survivors of the 1992 Zvornik massacre continued to call for prosecutions of those who carried out war crimes, as they marked 23 years since the killing of hundreds of civilians by Bosnian Serb forces.
“Zvornik was one of the first areas in Bosnia where we had mass crimes [during the 1992-95 war],” said Ahmet Grahic, president of the Association of Families of Prisoners and Missing Persons. “As the families of those who were killed, we wanted these crimes to be prosecuted.”
More than 190 men were killed by Bosnian Serb forces and aligned paramilitary fighters on June 8 1992. A Belgrade court has sentenced 7 people in 3 cases so far for crimes committed in Zvornik, with a fourth case pending. However, no senior commanders have yet faced trial for the massacre.
“We had some trials in Belgrade, and there we had two or three trials for Zvornik, but those were for crimes in [detention] camps, but other crimes, mass killings, we had none for those,” added Mr Grahic.
“We are especially unhappy with the prosecution of crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The crimes in Zvornik are a stain on human dignity, with the number of mass graves and people killed, and our state prosecution is doing very little,” said Grahic.
A spokesperson for the Bosnian state prosecution, Boris Grubesic, said that he was “actively working” on investigations around the crimes in Zvornik, adding, “If it were up to me, I would just ask Karadzic to tell victims’ families where the remains of those who were killed are”.
“We are still looking for more than 400 people missing since the war,” he said.
See more from Balkan Insight here.
“Zvornik was one of the first areas in Bosnia where we had mass crimes [during the 1992-95 war],” said Ahmet Grahic, president of the Association of Families of Prisoners and Missing Persons. “As the families of those who were killed, we wanted these crimes to be prosecuted.”
More than 190 men were killed by Bosnian Serb forces and aligned paramilitary fighters on June 8 1992. A Belgrade court has sentenced 7 people in 3 cases so far for crimes committed in Zvornik, with a fourth case pending. However, no senior commanders have yet faced trial for the massacre.
“We had some trials in Belgrade, and there we had two or three trials for Zvornik, but those were for crimes in [detention] camps, but other crimes, mass killings, we had none for those,” added Mr Grahic.
“We are especially unhappy with the prosecution of crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The crimes in Zvornik are a stain on human dignity, with the number of mass graves and people killed, and our state prosecution is doing very little,” said Grahic.
A spokesperson for the Bosnian state prosecution, Boris Grubesic, said that he was “actively working” on investigations around the crimes in Zvornik, adding, “If it were up to me, I would just ask Karadzic to tell victims’ families where the remains of those who were killed are”.
“We are still looking for more than 400 people missing since the war,” he said.
See more from Balkan Insight here.