Photographer whose photos of the Ahmići massacre went around the world visited the site of the atrocity

Giles Penfound was a British Army photographer, and he arrived in the village of Ahmići with UNPROFOR on April 16, 1993, where he then, and two days later, encountered hell, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

In Ahmići, where 116 Bosniaks were burned, many of them alive, and his photographs bore witness to that crime, he recently arrived after more than 20 years.

Thanks to his photographs, two perpetrators were held accountable before the Hague Tribunal.

- I was there when the medics arrived. They said that from the position of the bodies, they could see that the people were burned alive. They were trapped in the basement 300 km from Vienna, 1000 km from London, and they died like medieval witches - said Penfound.

When he returned to the village on April 18, everything was burned. In the house of Hasreta Ahmić (58), Bosniaks gathered in the basement, which Croats set on fire. Seven victims, women and children, were found in the basement. On April 17, Hasreta watched from a nearby hill as her mother and father were killed on her doorstep. She lost nine family members.

The reunion with Giles was a return of a lost family member for her. Her eyes filled with tears.

In Ahmići, he also met with the imam, who thanked him for everything he had done at the time.

- You were a witness then, so we will not be forgotten - said the imam.

After 22 years in the army, Penfound left the army in 2007, and today he photographs weddings.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE CRIME IN AHMIĆI

In the early morning of April 16, 1993, more than a hundred Bosniak civilians were killed in an attack by the special unit Jokeri of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). The official website of the Association "16. April" lists 116 names of the victims of the massacre in Ahmići. Of that number, about 33 were women and children.

According to the indictment reported by the UN, during the attack, groups of HVO soldiers went from house to house, killing and wounding Bosniak civilians, burning houses, barns, and livestock behind them. This attack lasted for several days, involving hundreds of HVO soldiers.

The night before the attack, Croats were evacuated from these villages. The HVO first began the attack by shelling Ahmići-Šantići from a distance, and then groups of soldiers went from house to house attacking civilians and their property, using incendiary tracer rounds and explosives. HVO soldiers set fire to almost every Bosniak house in Ahmići-Šantići, as well as two mosques.

The massacre was discovered by UN peacekeeping forces composed of the British army and Colonel Bob Stewart.

In 2000, five out of six Bosnian Croats were convicted of war crimes in Ahmići. Zoran Kupreškić was sentenced to ten years in prison, Mirjan Kupreškić to eight, Vlatko Kupreškić to six, Drago Josipović to fifteen, and Vladimir Šantić to twenty-five years in prison. Dragan Papić was acquitted of the charges, and the court ordered his immediate release. Dario Kordić, one of the commanders, was released in June 2014.