Memorial for Russian volunteers built in Visegrad

A monument in the shape of a cross will be unveiled near the town of Visegrad to honour the Russian volunteers who fought in the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992-95 war, causing anger among victims’ groups.

Bosnian Serb war veterans are to install a 5.5-metre-high cross on Grad hill near the eastern town of Visegrad on Thursday dedicated to the Russian volunteers who fought in the ranks of the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992-95 war.

“The official ceremony to unveil the cross is scheduled for the 12th of April, which has previously been declared the Day of Russian Veterans by the authorities in Republika Srpska [Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity],” Milisav Vasic, the president of the Visegrad chapter of the Bosnian Serb Army war veterans’ organisation, told BIRN.

April 12 was chosen because, on that day in 1993, in fighting near Visegrad, three Russian volunteers were killed.

“We will put powerful lights around the cross, and build paths and benches,” Vasic said.

He said that the monument was a donation from the Serbian 12th of April Veterans Association from Mitrovica in Kosovo.

The date chosen for the unveiling of the cross is controversial because it is the day on which the Bosnian war started in 1992.

The Women – Victims of War association, which represents Bosniak victims of the conflict, condemned the raising of the cross for the pro-Serb Russian volunteers as a “continuation of the aggression and genocide” against Bosniaks.

“We ask all the relevant state institutions, as well as the international community, to stop these kinds of psychological attack on the victims that remind us of the darkest period in our country during which we were exposed to the worst forms of abuse, torture, persecution and murder,” the association said in a statement published by Bosnian media.

The exact number of Russian volunteers who fought in the ranks of the Bosnian Serb Army during wartime is not known, but media have speculated that there were between 500 to 600 Russian fighters.

According to Bosnian Serb Army data, 37 Russian volunteers were killed during the war.

A memorial plaque dedicated to the Russian volunteers was installed in Visegrad in November 2011, with all the names of those who died engraved on it.

Last month, the families of Russian volunteers who were killed or wounded during the Bosnian war received pensions and disability allowances, local media reported.

Of a total of 43 cases, decisions were made to grant benefits to 19 Russian families.

According to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, around 3,000 Bosniaks, including 600 women and 119 children, were killed in wartime crimes committed in and around Visegrad.

One ICTY ruling said Bosnian Serb forces subjected Visegrad to “one of the most comprehensive and ruthless campaigns of ethnic cleansing during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

Source: Balkan Insight

Chetniks in Visegrad: October 1943

Image: Above is an image of Yugoslav Royalist Forces (Chetniks) entering Višegrad in October 1943. After entering Višegrad a genocidal massacre of Bosniak civilians took place in and around the town of Višegrad.

Image: The Sjemeč field (Sjemečko polje) masscare is one of the most brutal massacres committed in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. A column of Bosniak refugees from Višegrad attempted to escape from over-run Višegrad to Sarajevo. This column of civilians was brutally attacked and massacred by Yugoslav Royalist Forces (Chetniks).

INDICTMENT ISSUED AGAINST THREE PERSONS FOR WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE AREA OF VIŠEGRAD

27.01.2017. 

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an Indictment against:

– MOMIR TASIĆ, aka Mošo, born in 1941 in Bijela, in Višegrad Municipality, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

– PETAR TASIĆ, aka Pero, born in 1957 in Bijela, in Višegrad Municipality, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and

– MIRKO TASIĆ, born in 1963 in Bosanska Jagodina, in Višegrad Municipality, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

These accused persons are charged with participating actively, with their actions and conduct, in the widespread and systematic attack directed against civilian Bosniak population in the territory of the municipality of Višegrad, in the period from mid-May to the end of August of 1992. At the time, the accused Momir Tasić and Petar Tasić were members of the Army of Republika Srpska, Military Post VP 7158 in Višegrad, whereas the accused Mirko Tasić was a member of the Public Security Station in Višegrad.

They are charged with participating, together with several other members of the army and the police, in the forcible disappearance of six Bosniak male victims, on 16 June 1992, in the territory of the Municipality of Višegrad, whom they had previously deprived of liberty, tortured and abused, and then they drove them, forcibly and under threat, in an unknown direction. These men have been missing ever since and they are still unaccounted for.

Also, the accused Momir Tasić and Mirko Tasić are charged with forcing two victims, under the threat of life, to sexual intercourse, thus raping them.

These accused persons are charged with the commission of the criminal offense of Crimes against Humanity, as referred to in Article 172 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Indictment has been forwarded to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for confirmation.

Source: The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Ibisevic Family

Left: Nihad (Islam) Ibisevic born in 1985 and Indira (Islam) Ibisevic born in 1980.

Right: Nihad and his mother Fatima (Ahmet Cukojevic) Ibisevic born in 1950.

All were murdered by Bosnian Serb Forces in Visegrad in 1992 and their bodies thrown into the Drina River.

Mićo Jovičić sentenced to 5 years in prison for Strpci kidnappings

Following the review and acceptance of the Guilty Plea Agreement in the case v. Mićo Jovičić, the Trial Panel of the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina handed down on 16 November 2016 the Verdict under which the Accused Mićo Jovičić is found guilty of the criminal offense of War Crimes against Civilians in violation of Article 142(1) as read with Article 22 of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (CC of SFRY) and sentenced to five (5) years in prison.

The Accused Mićo Jovičić is found guilty because during the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina between June 1992 and December 1995, in the territory of municipalities of Rudo and Višegrad, between the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) and Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as members of the Army of Republika Srpska namely, L.D. as a commander of the 2^nd Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade – Višegrad (2.PLPB-Višegrad), B.I. as a commander of the Intervention company within the said Brigade, and O.P., N.P., D.Š., O.K., P.I., R.R., V.R. and Mićo Jovičić, as members of the Intervention company or members of the 1^st Company, the 1^st Battalion, the 2^nd Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade Višegrad, acted in violation of the rules of international humanitarian law violating Article 3(1) a) of the Geneva Convention relative to Protection of Civilian Persons at time of War dated 12 August 1949.

Pursuant to Article 188(4) the Accused is relieved of the duty to reimburse the costs of the criminal proceedings.

The Court also rendered the Decision extending the prohibiting measures: travel ban with the seizure of travel documents and prohibition to use the identity card to cross the state border. The said measures shall be in place no later than the Accused is committed to serve the sentence and if he violates the measures he may be ordered into custody.

(Source: Court of B&H)

Visegrad Memorial mentioned in James Waller’s new book

American scholar James Waller recently published a new book titled Confronting Evil: Engaging Our Responsibility to Prevent Genocide (Oxford University Press, 2016). One part of his book is dedicated to the genocide memorial in Visegrad:

Bikavac exhumation 25.2.2016

 

25.2.2016 – An exhumation was carried out on the foundations of Meho Aljic’s house in Bikavac where on 27.6.1992 one of the worst war crimes was committed during the genocide 1992-95. At least 70 women and children were burnt alive by Bosnian Serb soldiers.

On 25.2.2016, the Missing Persons Institute conducted an exhumation on this location and found one piece of human bone. There were several exhumations conducted on this location but this was the first time a human bone was discovered.

The crime scene was destroyed by the local authorities during or after the war. The house was bulldozed and the site was turned into a garbage dump.

DNA analysis will be conducted on the discovered bone in order to try and establish an identity of a victim.

Photo credits: Avaz

 

Izet Husovic

Izet (Rasim) Husovic

1940-1992

Rasim Husovic

Rasim Husovic 1905 – 1992

Hasa Tufekcic

Hasa (Osmo) Tufekcic

1917-1992