Mehmedović: If we teach our children what evil we survived, BiH has a chance to survive

About 500 former camp inmates, families of murdered camp inmates, children and youth today marked the 22nd anniversary of the suffering of 124 Bosniaks from the "Omarska" and "Keraterm" camps and two Bosniaks murdered in 1943 during World War II who were brutally killed and thrown into the Hrastova glavica pit, about 20 meters deep, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

Although the organizers said they did not expect officials to attend, the commemoration today was attended by Šemsudin Mehmedović, a member of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament. He stated that it is evident that a terrible campaign is underway regarding the nature of the war in BiH.

- You have these pro-Serb, regime media trying to show that BiH was not attacked and that there was no genocide. The day before the camps were closed, they were executed simply because they were of military age. I went to contribute to the commemoration of an important date in the history of BiH. People suffered innocently, and I will strive to prove that genocide was committed in Bosanska Krajina, especially in the three municipalities of Sanski Most, Prijedor, and Ključ. We do not have a verdict from the International Court, but history will surely show that the scale of suffering is on par with the suffering in Srebrenica – said Mehmedović.

What the organizers also pointed out, the Hrastova glavica site is very difficult to find, which makes this crime even more horrific considering that the two victims from 1943 were only found when the exhumation of victims from 1992 began.

- The question arises who knew and who organized the transport of the victims to that pit, which has a surface opening of about 80 cm. People were brought and killed systematically. Three police officers at the time, and possibly still current officers of the Police Station in Prijedor, killed Bosniaks three by three and threw them into the pit. Those who did not die from bullets died from bombs thrown into the pit. Someone is passing down the information from generation to generation that this pit exists, and it is proof that ethnic cleansing was carried out in BiH – said Mehmedović.

The opening, 80 cm in diameter, of the Hrastova glavica pit into which 124 Bosniaks were thrown in 1992

He also emphasized that each of us must show and prove that we will not forget and that we will teach our children that there are people in BiH who nurture the tradition of fascism and ethnic cleansing.

- If we forget this, evil will repeat itself, and if we do not forget and teach our children, there is a chance for BiH to survive – concluded Mehmedović.

The commemoration of the 22nd anniversary was organized by the Association of Camp Inmates in BiH, the Association of Camp Inmates Sanski Most, the Association of Women from Prijedor "Izvor", the Association of Camp Inmates "Prijedor 92", and the Association of Camp Inmates Kozarac. Tomorrow, a commemoration will be held to mark the beginning of the closure of the "Omarska" concentration camp, starting at 10:00 AM. Buses for all interested parties will pass through Mataruško Brdo at 08:00 AM, and together with the convoy of cars, they will depart from in front of the city stadium in Prijedor at 09:30 AM. This convoy will join the convoy of vehicles in Kozarac which departs at 09:00 AM, writes Patria.