Patria in Ahmići 22 years after the crime

In the early morning of April 16, 1993, more than a hundred Bosniak civilians were killed in an attack by the special unit Jokers of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). The official website of the Association “16. April“ lists 116 names of the victims of the Ahmići massacre. Of that number, around 33 were women and children. 

People in Ahmići today are mostly not interested in talking about the crimes they survived. They say they have had enough of everything. It is difficult for them when they talk about it. They are sad and listless. Far from wanting to forget what happened to them, but every rewind of the movie kills them again. Perhaps, they say, some younger generations from Ahmići will be able to talk and think about everything with a more sober mind.

- It happened early in the morning. Croats came and started killing. They killed my grandfather right in front of the garage. They killed our neighbours too. They killed them on their doorstep. They let us run away. We fled up to the village. We waited there until dark and then walked to Zenica. I was five years old. My uncle, his wife, and their two children were also killed. The HVO killed them in their sleep. One of their sons was seven years old, and the other was three months old – explains Amina Ahmić to a photojournalist from the agency Patria.

Her neighbour Junuz was a grown man when the crime happened in Ahmići. He talks about how dead bodies lay all over the village. The HVO killed his son. 

- I don't like talking about the war and what happened. We were surrounded from all sides – says Junuz.

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, writes Patria.