Hundreds in Ahmići: Even 22 Years Later, Not All Perpetrators Have Been Prosecuted

Hundreds of people today marked the suffering of innocent Bosniaks in Ahmići, who were brutally killed in their homes in 1993 by HVO members, and among the victims were women and children, reports a reporter of the BH News Agency Patria.

The chief imam in Vitez, Mihnet ef. Mehmedović, said that the crimes in Ahmići have all the elements of genocide, and that what the Bosniaks experienced in this place 22 years ago should be viewed in that way.

Unfortunately, he added, although a great crime occurred in Ahmići, some of those who ordered or participated in the crimes still walk the streets freely.

- There have been convictions, but not to the extent that the crimes were committed. There are still those who ordered or committed crimes, and they walk freely today - ef. Mehmedović told reporters.

The mayor of Vitez, Advan Akeljić, believes that coexistence among peoples in these areas is possible after everything, but that the past must be viewed with realistic eyes before that.

In the early morning of April 16, 1993, more than a hundred Bosniak civilians were killed in an attack by the special unit Jokeri 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, about 33 were women and children.

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.