IGK: The Markale Massacre - a crime that must be included in educational programs

(Patria) - The Institute for Research of Genocide Canada announced that the Markale massacre is a crime that must be included in educational programs. Through education about truth and justice and state institutionalization of the culture of remembrance against revisionism and denial.

"The judicially established facts about the Markale massacre gain the strength that every judicial truth must have only when it enters educational programs. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, by issuing a final verdict against Dragomir Milošević, former commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the VRS, sentenced to 29 years in prison, established that in the campaign of shelling Sarajevo carried out by the Corps, one of the most horrific crimes was the Markale massacre.

The siege of Sarajevo is an attempt to erase Bosnian roots and Bosnian centuries-old culture, tradition, and civilization. The effort and desire to erase the Bosnian past and identity fit into the most monstrous messages of aggression, which is irrefutable proof of the genocidal intent that accompanied it. Thousands of shells mercilessly destroyed Sarajevo. Civilians and defenders endured the longest siege in human history, which makes them true heroes. Under shells and snipers, in basements, shelters, and inadequate premises, classes were held and exams were taken, high school graduation, then bachelor's, master's, and doctoral theses were defended, and deep academic and cultural discussions were held. That normality in madness is proof of the indestructibility of the Bosnian and Sarajevo spirit, the power and strength of all, the will to emerge from the cataclysm with heads held high. People from Sarajevo, in the horrific conditions of the siege, showed the whole world how to defend the dignity of the Bosnian community, working with love, under shells, teaching students about the values of humanity and civilizational goals, about anti-fascism and humanism, about patriotism and solidarity. One of those values is the historical warning that this most severe form of crime must not be repeated and that those who should be held accountable for this terrible crime do not go unpunished. Truth and justice are the reason for a multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina, as it has always been, the pride of us all and a true meeting point of everything that makes Europe – and indeed human civilization in general – special.

Historical truth and the values of remembrance of the Markale massacre and fascist rampage against the achievements of human society, civilization, against the independence, territorial integrity, political subjectivity, and sovereignty of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in terms of the national, religious, cultural, and social coexistence of its citizens, and most importantly, for their biological existence and survival, are lessons from our past on which today, remembering the victims, we must build a common future. Unfortunately, we are witnessing daily attacks on the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, denial of genocide, forgeries and pseudo-research, rewarding of criminals, equating aggressors and victims. We are witnessing that we are told that, in the name of the future, it is wiser to remain silent about truth, justice, and the culture of remembrance and to silently accept the denial of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the denial of judicial, scientific, and historical facts, but Bosnian patriots, wherever they are, are not, nor should they be, like that. In the most difficult conditions of aggression and genocide, Bosnian patriots defended the highest civilizational principles and universal moral constants. Today, Bosnian patriots must defend the dignity of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its peoples and citizens, the dignity of the idea of Bosnia. The debt to the victims of the Markale massacre and to all victims of aggression and genocide obliges them to do so," announced the IGK.