The Day Every Mostar Resident Fell Silent: HVO Members Destroyed the Old Bridge on November 9, 1993!

November 9 marks the 22nd anniversary of the destruction of Mostar's symbol – the Old Bridge, writes the Patria News Agency.

The bridge was commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 to replace an old wooden suspension bridge that proved unstable. Construction began the same year and lasted nine years, as can be read from the inscription on the bridge which states the year of completion as 974 according to the Islamic calendar (around 1567).

During the aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992-1995, the Bridge was partially damaged by Serbian forces and the JNA. On November 9, 1993, the HVO destroyed the Old Bridge as part of a campaign of shelling and terrorizing Mostar. The day before, on November 8, 1993, the HVO began a campaign to destroy the Bridge by firing dozens of projectiles at the Bridge's arch and towers, which culminated on November 9, 1993, with its final destruction.

The person on trial for the destruction of the Old Bridge is HVO commander Slobodan Praljak. He is being tried before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in the case of "Prlić and others".

The Old Bridge was reconstructed and completely restored in 2004. Among the donors were the Turkish and Italian governments. In July 2005, the Bridge was included on the UNESCO list of protected cultural monuments.