PRIBOJ, Serbia
The Serbian massacre of 16 Bosnians on October 22, 1992 in Visegrad was commemorated at a somber ceremony Wednesday.
Relatives of the victims laid a foundation stone of a monument to honor the dead, and also laid wreaths and flowers on the Lim River that flows through Montenegro, Albania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On October 22 1992, 16 Bosnians who were travelling in a bus from Priboy to Sjeverin village were taken hostage by a Serbian armed unit, called "Avengers."
The hostages were taken to Visegrad city, which was then under the control of Bosnian Serbs, where they were brutally tortured before being shot dead.
Chief Imam of the Islamic Association Council Priboy Enes Svraka said in a speech that the relatives of the victims had endured 22 years of pain and sadness.
Svraka said all Bosnians stood in solidarity with the families of the victims.
Mesud Gibovic, who lost his father in the massacre, told The Anadolu Agency that the bloodshed could have been prevented, but no one tried to stop it.
Also, Sakiba Hocic said her husband lost his twin brothers in the incident, but to this day he was unable to talk about it.
Hocic said she felt the lives of the Bosnians were worth nothing, especially since the Constitutional Court of Serbia had decided to pay only €600 to the 22 relatives of the 16 Bosnians who were killed that day.
"Even that €600 was not paid to the victims' families," she said.
The International Criminal Court at the Hague had sentenced the leader of "Avengers" unit, Milan Lukic, to life in prison for the war crimes he committed in Visegrad city.
The Bosnian War took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 6, 1992 and December 14, 1995. Thousands of Bosnians were killed by Serbian troops during the war that saw systematic ethnic cleansing and mass rape.
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