Anniversary of the Bikavac crime in Višegrad: 'The Living Bonfire' was survived only by Zehra Turjačanin

(Patria) - The crime known as the Living Bonfire occurred on June 27, 1992, when members of the paramilitary formation Osvetnici, led by the most brutal criminals from Višegrad, Milan and Sredoje Lukić, forced about 70 Bosniak civilians into the house of Meho Aljić, in the Bikavac neighborhood of Višegrad, mostly women, children and the elderly, where they locked them in and then set the house on fire.

The youngest victim was only one year old. The only survivor of this crime was Zehra Turjačanin, who testified about the horrors at Bikavac before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Together with the crime that occurred on June 14, 1992, in Pionirska Street in Višegrad, this crime represents one of the most horrific war crimes committed during the war against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pionirska, Bikavac, Uzamnica and Vilina Vlas speak to the character of war crimes in the Višegrad area.

For the crime at Bikavac, Milan Lukić was sentenced to life imprisonment and Sredoje Lukić to 27 years in prison by a final verdict at the ICTY. Crimes in Višegrad have also been tried before domestic courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

UDIK previously published the book War Crimes in Višegrad – Verdicts, which contains a total of nine verdicts for war crimes committed in Višegrad handed down by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, convicting Boban Šimšić, Dragan Šekarić, Miloš Pantelić, Momir Savić, Nenad Tanasković, Novo Rajak, Oliver Krsmanović, Predrag Milisavljević, Vitomir Racković and Željko Lelek.