Another Sad Anniversary Marked: 31 Years Ago, Teacher Fatima Gunić and Three Students Were Murdered in a Classroom

(Patria) - By laying flowers and paying tribute with a special program by Sarajevo students, the 31st anniversary of the murder of teacher Fatima Gunić and three elementary school students in Alipašino Polje, Novi Grad municipality, was marked.

Thirty-one years ago, on November 9, 1993, at 10:55 AM, a shell fired from aggressor positions in Nadžarići killed teacher Fatima Gunić and her students Adis Mujalo, Vedad Mujkanović, and Feđa Salkić in an improvised classroom.

This year again, families, relatives, and friends of the murdered, along with numerous delegations and students from Sarajevo schools, gathered to pay tribute to the murdered fellow citizens and to recall once again the saddest period of our city, its four-year siege which left behind more than 11,000 killed, including more than 1,600 murdered children.

A delegation from the Sarajevo Canton, consisting of the Deputy Speaker of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Vibor Handžić, and the Minister of Finance of the Sarajevo Canton, Afan Kalamujić, laid flowers at the memorial monument. Minister Kalamujić addressed those present with a fitting remembrance of this tragic event.

"Thirty-one years ago, precisely at this time, a shell was fired from the positions of the then Army of Republika Srpska, which in the improvised premises of the 'Prvi maj' Elementary School, during class, ended the lives of a teacher and three students, and seriously and lightly wounded 23 other students. Just a few minutes later, another shell was fired from the same location, killing three and wounding seven citizens in front of the 'Jedinstvo' Local Community on Independence Square. The brutal murders and massacres of citizens throughout Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina were not accidental, and this must always be repeated. Military commanders and political leaders of the then Army of Republika Srpska were sentenced to the longest prison terms for their crimes before the International Court in The Hague. Let us remember that the murdered Adis Mujalo and Vedad Mujkanović, then third-graders, would be 40 years old today, and Feđa Salkić, then a first-grader, would be 38 years old today. They, like all victims of the aggression against our city and country, will remain an eternal reminder of the most difficult period of Sarajevo, of the heroic struggle and resistance so that our children can be free today, and with sadness and pride remember their innocently murdered peers," Minister Kalamujić stated.

In addition to the families of the murdered, delegations from the City of Sarajevo, the Municipality of Novi Grad and its Municipal Council, the Association of Parents of Murdered Children of Sarajevo 1992-1995, the Union of Civilian War Victims of Sarajevo Canton, the Peacebuilding Network, the Local Community Council, and citizens of Phase B of Alipašino Polje also paid their respects by laying flowers.
Flowers for the fallen were also laid by students from the 'Fatima Gunić' Elementary School, 'Aleksa Šantić' Elementary School, the Secondary School for Environment and Wood Design, and students from Maarif Schools of Sarajevo.

Students, along with students from the Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo, performed a special artistic program in memory of teacher Fatima Gunić and her three students.