Peace March marks anniversary of expulsion of over 20,000 Bosniaks and Croats from Doboj

(Patria) - The informal citizens' group "Paths of Salvation and Freedom Doboj", with the aim of preserving the memory of the days of persecution and suffering of the non-Serb population in the past war, in cooperation with the Medžlis of the Islamic Community Doboj, also organized the Peace March "Doboj 2024" this year. Participants followed the route from Tešanjka to Doboj, the same route taken on May 3, 1992, when over 20,000 Bosniaks and Croats were expelled from this city and its surroundings in a single day.

In the Doboj area, during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2,314 persons of Bosniak and Croatian nationality were killed or went missing. In a single day, May 3, 32 years ago, over 20,000 people were expelled, and hundreds ended up in the "Bare", "Kasarna", and "Bosanka" camps. The scale of the planned persecution is evidenced by the fact that Nikola Jorgić was sentenced to life imprisonment four times by a court in Germany for war crimes in the Doboj area, which was the first genocide verdict handed down on European soil after World War II.

Biljana Plavšić, the former president of the Republika Srpska, was convicted of war crimes, including those in Grapska near Doboj, and Predrag Kujundžić, the leader of the notorious unit "Predini vukovi", was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Some trials for war crimes in Doboj are still ongoing.

"Over 30 camps have been registered. The first genocide verdict was that against Nikola Jorgić in Grapska in 1997. Forty facilities of the Medžlis of the Islamic Community Doboj were destroyed - 19 mosques, two prayer rooms, eight mektebs, eight waqf houses, and eight auxiliary buildings," states the chief imam of the Medžlis of the Islamic Community Doboj, Ibrahim ef. Halilović.

"It is very important to know what Bosniaks, Croats, and Roma experienced in the city of Doboj. Therefore, we decided in 2019 to launch this Peace March, to no longer allow the evil done to us to be forgotten and to never happen again to anyone," says Admir Fetić, coordinator of the informal group "Paths of Salvation and Freedom Doboj".

Among the numerous guests who joined the March are those from the settlement of Čobe near Maglaj, whose residents also experienced a pogrom in 1993.

"This is a transfer of information to younger generations so they do not experience a similar scenario to what we experienced. The Peace March can only symbolize coexistence, and never provocation," emphasizes Almir Smajlović, a participant in the Peace March from the Local Community of Čobe near Maglaj.

Most of the displaced found temporary refuge in Gračanica, Tešanj, as well as in countries across Europe and the world. Many never returned to Doboj.