33 Years After the Crime: Collective Funeral Prayer for Ten Innocent Victims of the Village of Žulja on Saturday

(Patria) - A collective funeral prayer for nine victims of the crime committed against the civilian population of the village of Žulja and one from Vranjevići will be held on Saturday, June 14, at the newly formed martyrs' cemetery.

The funeral prayer will be led by the Grand Mufti of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein-ef. Kavazović, and numerous delegations and officials from public and political life in Bosnia and Herzegovina have confirmed their attendance.

After 33 years of waiting and searching for the truth, and nine years of hesitation over whether to bury the identified fragments of body parts or wait for the competent state authorities to find the complete skeletal remains of the victims, the families Ćatić, Mravić, Pirušić, and Bašić have decided, as is often the case in Srebrenica, to mark the graves of their loved ones in this way: Meho (Alija) Ćatić, Meho (Mujo) Ćatić, Ibro (Juso) Ćatić, Ibro (Mujo) Pirušić, Mujo (Smail) Zolj, Salko (Alija) Ćatić, Smajo (Mustafa) Ćatić, Ramo (Selim) Ćatić, Šaćir (Jusuf) Mravić, and Hakija (Smajo) Bašić.

- These are bone fragments of nine individuals, one or two small bones - not a single complete bone - which were exhumed from the Lipovača pit near Nevesinje. Their identity was confirmed by DNA analysis in 2016.

Given that we knew who they were ten years ago, we did not want to proceed with the burial because we believed the Prosecutor's Office would do even less work.

Realizing that they are doing almost nothing on this matter, we decided to organize this funeral prayer - emphasizes Amir Ćatić, president of the Committee for the Construction of the Martyrs' Cemetery in Žulja.

In the village of Žulja, on June 14, 1992, the fourth day of Kurban-Bajram, military formations of the JNA and the Army of Republika Srpska unlawfully captured 37 residents of this village, mostly elderly men, elderly women, women, and children, and took them to a camp in Nevesinje, after which all trace of them was lost.

In previous years, the bodies of three murdered women were found, while the fate of the remaining 22 is still unknown.

In preparation for the collective funeral prayer, the residents of the village of Žulja worked diligently for six months on the construction of the martyrs' cemetery complex.

They carried out all necessary preparations of the land and the surrounding wall of the martyrs' cemetery, alongside which they also built a small park, at the front of which they placed preserved remains of the demolished mosque and flagpoles with state flags.

- This will mean we can go there for Bajram, recite the Fatiha for our loved ones, even though there will be only one bone in the grave. Emotions are stirred, because we have been waiting for 33 years for the state, for which we fought, to do something.

I believe the Prosecutor's Office can do this efficiently. We all know that this was done by the "Nevesinje Brigade" of the Army of Republika Srpska, which included our neighbors. As the day of the funeral prayer approaches, it becomes harder to bear the emotions - says Amir.

The construction of the martyrs' cemetery in Žulja was helped, besides the residents, by their friends, businesses, the City of Mostar, and officials to whom they sent requests for support.

The engagement and effort they invested in arranging the martyrs' cemetery indirectly restored the necessary dimension of dignity to the families of the crime victims.

Ismet Ćatić, who will bury the found body parts of his grandfather, believes this is one way they can repay their loved ones.

- It is indescribable for us that we will have a place to come and recite the Fatiha - says Ismet.

Given that this is also the only separate martyrs' cemetery in the vicinity of Mostar, the residents of the village of Žulja hope that in calmer social circumstances, it will also be a place visited by educational institutions, pupils, and students, and that through this example, they will learn important lessons from the recent past.

- This is not the first time this village has suffered. It also suffered in 1943, when about ten innocent residents were killed. This cemetery will serve as a reminder that this should never happen to anyone again - emphasizes Ismet.

On the occasion of the joint funeral prayer, the City of Mostar declared Saturday, June 14, a Day of Mourning.

The collective funeral prayer, whose protocol includes the reception of the coffins and the procession to the burial site at Trg Musala at ten o'clock, is organized by the Association of Civilian War Victims of the City of Mostar, headed by the President of the City Council, Đani Rahimić.

The funeral prayer will be held in Žulja at 12 o'clock, with planned addresses by the Mufti of Mostar, Salem-ef. Dedović, and the Grand Mufti of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein-ef. Kavazović.