Thirty-three years since the abduction and murder of civilians from Sjeverin: Justice still not served

(Patria) - It has been 33 years since the abduction and murder of 16 Bosniak civilians from Sjeverin, a village in the municipality of Priboj, Serbia, committed on 22 October 1992 by members of the Serbian paramilitary formation "Osvetnici" (The Avengers) under the command of Milan Lukić.

That morning, the civilians set off for work in Priboj on the regular bus line Priboj–Rudo–Priboj. In the village of Mioče, on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the formation stopped the bus belonging to the company "Raketa" from Užice, checked the passengers' documents, and pulled out 15 men and one woman. The abducted civilians were transported by truck to the "Vilina Vlas" hotel near Višegrad, where they were searched, had their documents confiscated, were physically abused, and then taken to the bank of the Drina River and killed.

For this crime, the District Court in Belgrade in 2005 sentenced Milan Lukić, Oliver Krsmanović, and Dragutin Dragićević to 20 years in prison each, and Đorđe Šević to 15 years. The court established that they, together with five other unknown persons, tortured, injured, and killed the civilians. However, the remains of only one victim, Medredin Hodžić, have been found to date, while the others are still listed as missing.

The Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK) from Sarajevo, the Center for Democracy and Transitional Justice (CDTP) from Banja Luka, and the organization Ženski glas (Women's Voice) from Priboj today reminded the public that all the victims were citizens of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

"It is the moral obligation of the state of Serbia to grant the killed from Sjeverin the status of civilian war victims and to show the respect they deserve. More active work by responsible institutions in finding the missing and compensating families would be an act of humanity and a minimum of state responsibility towards its own citizens," states the joint statement of these organizations.

On the occasion of the anniversary, the organizations recalled the names of the killed civilians: Alija Mandal, Derviš Softić, Esad Džihić, Idriz Gibović, Hajrudin Sajtarević, Medredin Hodžić, Mehmed Šebo, Medo Hodžić, Mevlida Koldžić, Mithad Softić, Mujo Alihodžić, Mustafa Bajramović, Ramahudin Ćatović, Ramiz Begović, Sabahudin Ćatović, Sead Pecikoza, and Zafer Hadžić.