Exhibition "48 Hours of Ash and Blood" at the Historical Museum on the anniversary of the Ahmići massacre

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Historical Museum of BiH and SENSE - Centre for Transitional Justice will open the exhibition "48 Hours of Ash and Blood" tonight at the Museum starting at 8 PM. The exhibition is organized on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the massacre in Ahmići, writes Patria.

The exhibition consists of photographs by Giles Penfound, then a photographer for the British UN battalion, who was among the first to enter Ahmići after the massacre and captured the hellish scenes he encountered with his camera.

"These photographs were used in the prosecution of war crimes, and the exhibition "48 Hours of Ash and Blood" at the Historical Museum of BiH will be presented to the wider public for the first time," stated the Historical Museum of BiH.

The exhibition has documentary value and pays tribute to the victims and survivors. After Sarajevo, the exhibition will also be shown in some cities in Croatia.

In the early morning of April 16, 1993, 116 residents of Ahmići were killed in an attack by the special unit Jokeri of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), of whom 33 were women and children. The youngest victim was only a few months old.

The massacre was discovered by UN peacekeeping forces composed of the British army and Colonel Bob Stewart.

The Hague Tribunal convicted seven former HVO members for the crime in Ahmići, while Paško Ljubičić was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the same crime.

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.

Zoran, Mirjan, and Vlatko Kupreškić were sentenced to prison terms of 6 to 10 years for participating in the attack, but were acquitted by a final verdict in 2001. Drago Josipović received 12 years, and Vladimir Šantić 18 years in prison. Dragan Papić was acquitted.