Bratunac: 32nd Anniversary of the Suffering of Bosniaks in This Town Marked, US Ambassador Also Attended

(Patria) - By visiting the places where residents of Bratunac were killed during 1992 and paying tribute to innocent victims, the 32nd anniversary of the suffering of Bosniaks in this town was marked in Bratunac as part of the multi-day commemorative program "Days of Remembrance of the Genocide in Bratunac".

Members of victims' families, surviving victims, representatives of the Medžlis of the Islamic Community in Bratunac, representatives of associations gathering surviving victims, and political representatives laid flowers at the city stadium in Bratunac, and in the gymnasium of the "Branko Radičević" Elementary School (in 1992, the "Vuk Karadžić" Elementary School) where Bosniaks of Bratunac were detained. Flowers were also laid at the memorial in the village of Repače.

Although the school was renamed to "Branko Radičević" Elementary School after the war, what happened in its premises in the first months of the aggression has not been forgotten to this day.

As part of the anniversary commemoration of the crimes against Bosniaks of Bratunac, flowers were laid and a fatiha was recited today at many other crime sites against Bosniaks of Bratunac, including those killed on the banks of the Drina River.

On that occasion, at the Ljubovija Bridge, which connects Bratunac and Ljubovija, those gathered threw flowers into the Drina to remember the victims who, after being killed, were thrown into the riverbed of the Drina River, whose remains have not been found to this day. It was at this very place that the first murders of Bosniaks from Bratunac were committed in April 1992, reports TV Podrinje.

The commemoration was also attended by the US Ambassador to BiH, Michael Murphy.

"Today in Bratunac we pay tribute to Bosniak civilians, mostly women and children, who were killed by members of the Army of Republika Srpska in 1992.

Bratunac was the site of some of the most heinous war crimes and brutal mass ethnic cleansing during the war. To honor the memory of the victims and pave the way for a brighter future for Bosnia and Herzegovina, we must all promote reconciliation, respect and tolerance," the US Embassy stated.