Hasečić: To this day we do not know where the bones of innocent civilian victims are

VIŠEGRAD, (Patria) - With peaceful walks from one execution site to another, laying flowers and reciting prayers, the people of Višegrad today marked another anniversary of the horrific crimes in Pionirska Street and at Bikavac.

In live pyres, in the houses of Adem Omeragić in Pionirska Street and Meho Aljić at Bikavac, on 14 and 27 June 1992 respectively, more than 140 women, children and elderly people were burned alive. The youngest victim, a baby in its mother's arms in Pionirska Street, was only two days old and had no name at the time of death, N1 reports, as carried by the Patria agency.

From the victims' association, they say that today the pyres are witnessed by their persistent struggle for truth and justice, without which there can be no reconciliation.

- What can you say if you have been searching for bones for 26 years. That not a single Serb in Višegrad, our former neighbours, our friends, has wanted to say to this day where the bones of civilians burned alive were moved. The only goal of the families is to learn the truth, to have a dignified burial and to know where to come and recite the Fatiha. For us, the only sacred place is this live pyre, where they were burned - said Bakira Hasečić, president of the Association "Woman - Victim of War".

- It is our duty to be here, to honour all those who were killed here and in all other places in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To send a message to the deniers that they will never succeed. Today they may be loud, perhaps they have greater power in the area called Republika Srpska. But time is ahead of us, that power will weaken, we will grow stronger. Truth and justice will prevail in Višegrad and in all other places. I ask you to persevere - said Ramiz Salkić, vice-president of the BiH entity Republika Srpska.

They testify, they say, primarily to the Hague verdicts against Milan Lukić, sentenced to life imprisonment, and Sredoje Lukić, sentenced to 27 years. The silence about where the remains of several dozen burned people are, hurts the survivors the most.

In the meantime, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ordered custody for Radomir Šušnjar, who is charged with participation in a war crime when 57 persons of Bosniak nationality from the Višegrad area were forcibly locked in a house in Pionirska Street in Višegrad and burned.