Memorial unveiled: 70 souls remained in the house in Pionirska Street where they were burned alive

In May and June 1992, in the area of Višegrad, members of the former JNA, military and paramilitary Serbian units, and police officers committed the greatest crimes against the Bosniaks of this region, reports the Patria news agency.

In the Višegrad village of Koritnik, 80 Bosniaks once lived. Houses were burned to the ground, and 57 of them were brutally killed.

To ensure that the crimes committed in this part of eastern Bosnia are not forgotten, the people of Višegrad, with their own funds, built a water fountain and erected a memorial with the names of the victims from the places where the first genocide in our country was committed.

Women, children, the elderly, residents of Koritnik were captured by the criminals and brought to Višegrad, where they were burned alive in the house of Adem Omeragić in Pionirska Street in Višegrad. Those who escaped the inferno were thrown into the Drina River by the criminals.

On that day, June 14, 1992, they broke into the village and told them they were taking them for an exchange, to go to their own people. The president of the Association "Woman-Victim of War," Bakira Hasečić, says that the crime in this village is one of the worst because 57 out of 80 residents were killed.

"-An entire village was almost completely destroyed. People were killed and houses burned," says Hasečić.

Hajrija Ajanović was lucky enough to survive the inferno in Pionirska Street. With severe burns, she jumped through a window. She first pushed her child out, and then found her own salvation in the jump.

"-Even today, I don't know how I managed it. I lived in the sewer for three days, my wounds festered. In that house, the souls of my neighbors remained. They say that the craftsman who worked on the house's renovation heard hundreds of voices begging him, 'don't lock us in.' Those are all their souls, they haven't found peace, they are not buried," says Hajrija.

In the house on Pionirska Street, nine Kurspahić family members were burned. Huso Kurspahić has been searching for the remains of his mother, two sisters, brother, two nephews, and three other Kurspahić relatives for 21 years.

He says that the survivors would return to their village, but no one guarantees them safety. Those who drove his mother and father to death with guns in their hands still work in the police today.

In the house of Adem Omeragić on Pionirska Street, on June 14, 1992, a total of 70 Bosniak women, children, and elderly were burned alive. The youngest victim was only two days old and burned in her mother's embrace. Eight people survived the inferno.

In The Hague, for the crimes in Pionirska Street, Milan Lukić was sentenced to life imprisonment, Sredoje Lukić to 27 years, and the Court of Appeal in Paris decided in early July this year to extradite Radomir Šušnjar, who participated in the burning alive of people in the house of Adem Omeragić, to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.