Sarajevo hit by record 3,777 shells 32 years ago

(Patria) - 32 years ago today, 3,777 shells fell on Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This is a record number of shells that fell on Sarajevo in a single day during the siege that lasted from April 5, 1992, to February 29, 1996.

The shells caused immense damage. People were killed, civilian, cultural, and religious facilities, and even hospitals were destroyed.

The siege of Sarajevo began on April 5, 1992, and ended on February 29, 1996. It lasted 1,425 days. It is estimated that about 500,000 projectiles were fired at the city during the siege. On average, 329 shells were fired at the city daily.

During this time, about 350,000 residents were exposed to daily fire from members of the former JNA and paramilitary formations, and later members of the then Army of Republika Srpska, from almost all types of weapons, from positions located on the surrounding hills. They did not manage to descend and capture the city only thanks to the immense will, desire, and efforts of the defenders, mostly citizens who responded to the call for defense, and initially almost unarmed, in sneakers and jeans, with minimal weaponry, stood on the city's ramparts.

During the siege, 11,541 citizens of Sarajevo were killed, including 1,601 children. According to post-war research, most residents, almost four-fifths of the total number of killed, died in the first two years of the war.

For terrorizing civilians during the siege of Sarajevo in the period 1992-1995, among others, the Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals sentenced the wartime commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, Ratko Mladić, and the wartime president of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, to life imprisonment.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office has not filed a single indictment for the siege of Sarajevo!