SAD ANNIVERSARY 26 years ago, aggressor shells killed six children while sledding

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - It has been 26 years since shells fired from positions of the RS army in Nedžarići killed six children while sledding on Alipašino polje and wounded as many.

That day we were forever left by sisters aged 12 and five, Indira and Jasmina Brković. Dedović Mirza, eight years old, Jurenić Danijel, 11, Rizvanović Nermin, 13, and Subašić Admir, eight.

In memory of the killed, wreaths and flowers were laid today on the memorial plaque at the crime scene by parents and relatives of the slain children, the Association of Parents of Killed Children of Besieged Sarajevo 1992-1995, and delegations of the Sarajevo Canton, the City of Sarajevo, the Municipality of Novi Grad, the Council of the Local Community Alipašino polje C1 and C2, the Municipal Board of the SDA, and Elementary School "Meša Selimović", the Press Service of the Sarajevo Canton announced.

On behalf of the Canton, wreaths were laid by representative in the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton Samra Ćosović Hajdarević and Minister of Communal Economy and Infrastructure in the Government of the Sarajevo Canton Srđan Mandić, who in his address emphasized how important it is for the past, present, and especially the future to remember this tragically lost youth.

"Unfortunately, the enemy artillery did not spare age, gender, nor religious or ethnic affiliation in killing Sarajevo during its siege, in which 11,541 residents were killed, among them 1,601 children," Minister Mandić pointed out and on this occasion urged that the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while remembering the past, must be built on the ideas of justice, respect, and tolerance.

The memory of this tragic day is hardest for the parents of the killed children, among them Zehra Subašić, who lost her eight-year-old son Admir that day.

"The sorrow and pain that we, the parents of the slain children, have felt for 26 years cannot be erased by anything. Our children would now be over thirty years old. And while the perpetrators of these crimes have never been punished, our children did not even get to start life, school, youth. That is another wound that cannot heal until there is justice for these and all killed children," said Admir's mother Zehra.