Commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the war crime at Tuzla's Kapija tomorrow - victims' families still await justice

(Patria) - Thirty-one years later, the parents of 71 children and young people killed at Tuzla's Kapija on May 25, 1995, are still waiting for Novak Đukić, finally convicted of the murder of 71 people, to serve his twenty-year prison sentence.

Zineta Hidanović, mother of Alem Hidanović, who was 19 years old when he was killed at Tuzla's Kapija, says that the parents' wound does not heal because their case has never been resolved and that the Court of BiH should never have allowed Novak Đukić to leave the country and go for treatment in Serbia, writes Detektor.

"Everyone knew he had dual citizenship. And we all know very well that all such people as he is are sheltered in Belgrade and walk around Belgrade," says Hidanović.

In 2014, Novak Đukić was found guilty by the Court of BiH of ordering an artillery platoon, as commander of the "Ozren" Tactical Group of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), to shell the city of Tuzla with cannons on May 25, 1995, resulting in the massacre at Kapija, when more than 70 people, mostly young men, were killed and 125 were wounded.

In February 2014, he was released from prison after the Constitutional Court of BiH – due to incorrect application of the law – overturned the verdict by which he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. In June 2014, the Court of BiH reduced Đukić's sentence to 20 years, and his defense attorney informed a few days later that the convict was undergoing treatment in Serbia.

An arrest warrant for Đukić was issued in October 2014 because he failed to respond to the summons for the execution of his sentence, after which Serbia was asked to take over the verdict. The Higher Court in Belgrade has postponed the hearing several times at which the takeover of the execution of the 20-year prison sentence was to be considered.

Dino Kalesić, father of the youngest victim who died at Kapija, two-and-a-half-year-old Sandro, reminds that the families are not satisfied with the severity of the sentence imposed on Đukić either.

"For one murdered child, for one murdered person at Tuzla's Kapija, Novak Đukić was sentenced to something more than three months in prison (...) for 71 murdered," Kalesić added.

According to him, Đukić's departure to Serbia is a "political market" of betrayal of the victims' parents. He added that time has not healed the wounds and that one has only learned to live with the pain.

"We all who have buried our children know that. We know what we go to bed with and what we wake up with. So, we try not to burden anyone around us with our difficult story," Kalesić emphasized.

Milorad Konstantinović, Đukić's lawyer, told Detektor that the last expert examination was in November 2024 and that it was stated then that treatment needed to continue for another one to two years to possibly re-examine whether he is capable of following the trial and how it would affect him. Konstantinović added that he does not know the date of the next expert examination and that he has not spoken with Đukić for over a year.

"Honestly, I don't know how he is currently. No one has informed me that anything has changed (...) So I assume his health condition is unchanged, but I say, I cannot confirm because I have not been in contact," he added.

The Higher Court in Belgrade did not respond to Detektor's inquiry about when a new expert examination is expected in the case against Novak Đukić.

Hidanović said that Tuzla will never forget Kapija and that she believes Bosnia and Herzegovina will not either.

"But the courts decide here. Greater powers than us decide. We are a miniature that has to suffer. And we have been suffering for so many years," Hidanović concluded.