Peaceful day in Ahmići on the day of sentencing for HZ HB leaders

VITEZ, (Patria) – Residents of Ahmići near Vitez, where 116 Bosniaks were killed 24 years ago, are awaiting the verdict for the leaders of the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna in their homes. It is peaceful on the streets. For some of them, the pronouncement of the verdict is a reopening of old wounds.

In the early morning of April 16, 1993, more than a hundred Bosniak civilians were killed in an attack by the special unit Jokeri of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Of the 116 Ahmići residents brutally killed, 33 were women and children.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ruled that the killings in Ahmići were a crime against humanity, and one of the commanders of this operation, Dario Kordić, was sentenced to 25 years. He was released in early June 2014.

Photo Patria

According to the indictment conveyed by the UN, groups of HVO soldiers went from house to house during the attack, killing and wounding Bosniak civilians, burning houses, granaries, and livestock behind them. This attack lasted for several days and involved hundreds of HVO soldiers.

The night before the attack, Croats were evacuated from these villages. The HVO began the attack by first shelling Ahmići-Šantići from a distance, after which groups of soldiers went from house to house, attacking civilians and their property, and using incendiary tracer rounds and explosives. HVO soldiers set fire to almost every Bosniak house in Ahmići-Šantići, as well as two mosques.

The massacre was discovered by UN peacekeeping forces composed of the British army and Colonel Bob Stewart.

In 2000, five out of six Bosnian Croats were convicted for war crimes in Ahmići. Zoran Kupreškić was sentenced to ten years in prison, Mirjan Kupreških to eight, Vlatko Kupreškić to six, Drago Josipović to fifteen, and Vladimir Šantić to twenty-five years in prison. Dragan Papić was acquitted of the charges.

Today, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, within the scope of the appellate judgment for the former leaders of the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna, determined that there was an international armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a state of occupation, and also confirmed the existence of a joint criminal enterprise with the aim of ethnic cleansing of parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Appeals Chamber, presided over by Carmelo Agius, determined that the trial chamber had correctly established the existence of an international armed conflict, and that it had correctly established that Croatia exercised control through local authorities in Herceg Bosna, which confirms that a state of occupation existed.