Numerous delegations paid tribute to the innocent Bosniak victims of Ahmići

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The 30th anniversary of the horrific crimes committed by units of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) against the local Bosniak population is being marked today in Ahmići near Vitez.

After the commemoration, attended by numerous dignitaries, flowers were laid at the Martyrs' Memorial in Ahmići, Fatiha was recited, and tribute was paid to the victims of the crimes in which 116 Bosniaks were killed, including a three-month-old baby.

Graciela Gatti Santana lays flowers (Photo: Patria)

Among others, flowers were laid by the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Graciela Gatti Santana, and former British officer and former commander of the British battalion within the UN peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bob Stewart.

Šefik Džaferović (Photo: Patria)

Tribute was also paid by member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Bećirović, former member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Šefik Džaferović, SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović, Reis-ul-ulema of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina Husein efendija Kavazović, Vice Presidents of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Refik Lendo and Igor Stojanović, Prime Minister of Central Bosnia Canton Tahir Lendo...

Denis Bećirović (Photo: Patria)

We remind you that in the early morning hours of April 16, 1993, HVO members attacked the village of Ahmići and killed 116 Bosniaks, and burned their houses. The youngest victim of these crimes was a three-month-old baby.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled that the killings in Ahmići were crimes against humanity.

One of the HVO commanders, Dario Kordić, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Zoran, Mirjan, and Vlatko Kupreškić were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to ten years for participation in the crime, but were acquitted in a new verdict in 2001.

Representatives of the Islamic Community in BiH led by Reis Kavazović (Photo: Patria)

Dario Kordić, who was serving a 25-year sentence in an Austrian prison for crimes in central Bosnia, including the crime in Ahmići, was released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

The Hague Tribunal also sentenced Miroslav Cicko Bralo, a former member of the HVO special unit "Džokeri", to 20 years in prison.

Paško Ljubičić was sentenced to eight years in prison, and was released after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Tihomir Blaškić was sentenced to nine years in prison and was released after serving eight years and four months of his sentence.