30 YEARS LATER: Still searching for murdered Bosniaks from Sjeverin

(Patria) - Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the abduction and murder of sixteen Bosniak civilians from Sjeverin (Priboj, Serbia).

On 22 October 1992, members of the Serbian paramilitary formation "Osvetnici" (Avengers), commanded by Milan Lukić, abducted sixteen Bosniaks, workers of Priboj companies from Sjeverin, who had set off for work in Priboj in the morning on the regular bus line Rudo – Priboj. The bus was stopped in the village of Mioče (Rudo, Bosnia and Herzegovina), and on that occasion fifteen men and one woman were taken off the bus. They were transported by truck to the "Vilina Vlas" hotel in Višegrad, where after several days of abuse they were killed, and their bodies were thrown into the Drina River. On the night before the bus abduction, Sabahudin Ćatović was also abducted in front of his family home. Since then, all trace of him has been lost. All victims were citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. To date, the remains of only one victim (Medredin Hodžić) have been found, while the others are still listed as missing.

For the crime in Sjeverin, the District Court in Belgrade sentenced Milan Lukić, Oliver Krsmanović (in absentia), and Dragutin Dragićević to twenty years in prison each, while Đorđe Šević was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

We hereby appeal to the state of Serbia to take the necessary steps so that the victims of the Sjeverin abduction begin to be treated as civilian war victims and that compensation for the victims' families is finally established. The only correct path in confronting the war past of the 1990s is equal treatment of all civilian war victims, who were nothing more than victims of monstrous policies that, unfortunately, are still presented to the people as the best option. As long as we do not step out of ethno-political frameworks and abandon warmongering policies, we cannot talk about socio-economic transformation and a better life in these regions.

We remember the murdered civilians from Sjeverin: Alija Mandal, Derviš Softić, Esad Džihić, Idriz Gibović, Hajrudin Sajtarević, Medredin Hodžić, Mehmed Šebo, Medo Hodžić, Mevlida Koldžić, Mithad Softić, Mujo Alihodžić, Mustafa Bajramović, Ramahudin Ćatović, Ramiz Begović, Sabahudin Ćatović, Sead Pecikoza, and Zafer Hadžić.

The statement is signed by the Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK) – Sarajevo, the Center for Democracy and Transitional Justice (CDTP) – Banja Luka, and Ženski glas – Priboj.