News in English     | 22.08.2018. 18:06 |

Anniversary of the killing of 224 prisoners at Korićani cliffs marked today

FENA Alma Zukanović

PRIJEDOR, August 22 (FENA) - By throwing 224 roses, and saying prayers with a minute of silence, the families of the victims and the surviving victims today, organized by the prisoners' associations "Prijedor92" and "Kozarac", marked the 26th anniversary of the horrific war crime and killing of war camp detainees at Korićani cliffs site.

President of the Regional Alliance of the associations of war camp detaines of the Banja Luka region, Mirsad Duratović, told FENA that the Korićani cliffs massacre was a monstrous crime over a group of at least 224 Bosniak and Croat civilians from Prijedor, which took place on 21 August 1992, as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks and Croats from the Prijedor region.

The massacre was carried out at the order of the Crisis Staff of the Prijedor municipality, and it was executed by members of the Intervention Unit of the Prijedor Police. The search for the remains of the killed war camp detainees is still ongoing to this very day.

“On that day, the Serb policemen separated Prijedor detainees on Mount Vlašić from the refugee convoy. They brought them to Korićani cliffs. The civilians were ordered to stand on the edge of the cliff and then they shot at them. After the civilians had fallen into the ravine, the police officers continued to throw bombs and shoot so that no one would survive,” said Duratović.

Luckily, he added, several detainees who survived the massacre later testified before The Hague Tribunal and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina at war crimes trials.

Speaking about the judgments delivered for the crime, Duratović recalled that a member of the Intervention Unit of the Prijedor Police, Darko Mrdja, was sentenced to 17 years in prison before the ICTY.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced a total of nine members of the Intervention Unit: Marinko Ljepoja and Radoslav Knežević to 23 years in prison each, Dušan Janković, Milorad Škrbić and Zoran Babić to 21 years each, Željko Stojnić to 15 years, Damir Ivanković to 14, Ljubiša Četić to 13 and Gordan Djurić to eight years in prison.

“A total of 176 years in prison, which is 283 days or 9.5 months in prison for each killed prisoner. For the Court of BiH, the life of one Prijedor inmate was worth 9.5 months in prison,” Duratović concluded.

According to the Institute for Missing Persons, the remains of 98 victims are yet to be found, taking into account the remains of 27 victims, whose skeletons were not yet found so the families can't bury them.

The massacre at Korićani Cliffs was survived by 12 people whose testimony enabled the public to know the truth about this crime and that part of those responsible get prosecuted and sanctioned before the court.

(FENA) S. R.

Vezane vijesti

Abdulah Sidran to be buried in the harem of Ferhadija Mosque, commemoration at the National Theater

BiH Court confirms the first-instance verdict for war crimes in Janja

Court of BiH rejects proposal for prohibition measures against those convicted of crimes in Bužim

Promo

M:tel: Savršena kombinacija – Huawei telefon i pametni sat s popustom

M:tel: Stiglo nam je Proljeće!

Predstava 'Kako sam se nadala dobro se nisam udala' u BKC Sarajevo