Bosnia Marks Anniversary of Ahmici Village Mass Killings

The commemoration ceremony on Tuesday. Photo: N1.

Tributes were paid in Ahmici in Bosnia's Vitez municipality on Tuesday to the victims of the massacre on April 16, 1993, when 116 civilians including elderly people and children were killed by Croatian Defence Council fighters.

The youngest victim of the massacre was three months old and the oldest was 82. Six people have so far been convicted of involvement in the killings.

The marking of the anniversary of the murders began with a march entitled 'The Path of Truth and Remembrance' from Vitez to Ahmici, followed by a commemoration and religious ceremony at the Muslim cemetery in Stari Vitez. Flowers were also laid at the memorial to the victims in Ahmici.

The April 16 Association said that the bodies of 29 victims from Ahmici have still not been found, and not all of those responsible for the crime have been punished.

"As for finding victims' bodies, there has been no progress in recent years. We constantly send out appeals, but receive no feedback," said association member Hazrudin Bilic.

Sefik Dzaferovic, the Bosniak member of the tripartite Bosnian state presidency, said at the ceremony that truth and justice were crucial for the restoration of trust.

"We shall not give up until the last organiser and perpetrator of the crime in Ahmici has been brought to justice. Only six people have stood trial for the horrible crime in Ahmici, but there were many more of those who planned and committed the crime," Dzaferovic said.

An interactive film called 'Ahmici: 48 Hours of Ashes and Blood', produced by the SENSE Centre for Transitional Justice, was shown at the local elementary school in Ahmici and was also to be screened at the Historical Museum in Sarajevo on Tuesday...

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