prijava
SARAJEVO, August 28 (FENA) - Numerous delegations, family members and citizens paid tribute today to 43 civilians killed in the massacre at Markale City Market who died after a mortar shell was fired from the aggressor positions around the besieged capital. On August 28, 25 years ago, 83 civilians were severely injured, of whom three were children.
At one point, in a rare place where citizens could find some food in besieged Sarajevo, five powerful mortar shells were fired from the direction of Mt Trebević on this day at 11 a.m. when the Markale City Market experienced a bitter fate again.
BiH Presidency member Željko Komšić said that what happened in BiH must never be forgotten, especially the victims and their families.
“It is our human duty. We must also remember the people who were in Sarajevo at that time, they remember the pictures of the massacre well, and that is something that does not disappear,” Komšić pointed out.
A large number of citizens who were just trying to survive were killed at that place, he added.
“These were not soldiers or fighting activities, but the massacre of the citizens of Sarajevo and this was not the only one,” Komšić pointed out.
He believes that a new generation of young people has come who do not remember that, but that Sarajevo still does not forget its victims.
President of the Association of Parents of Children Murdered in besieged Sarajevo, Fikret Grabovica, said that he does not understand that citizens of BiH are not aware of how important the culture of remembrance is.
“I feel endless sadness that we are at the place where one of the most serious crimes was committed during the siege and the most difficult day during the aggression, and I am especially sad that a small number of citizens came to this commemoration,” said Grabovica.
The massacre, which took place after the first massacre at the site in 1994, when 68 citizens were killed and 142 were lightly and severely injured, is one of the most horrific crimes committed by Serb military, police and paramilitary formations in the besieged Sarajevo.
Mortar shell of 120 mm caliber, fired from the enemy’s positions from the direction of Mt Trebević, exploded at the northern entrance to the City Market.
Former President of the Republika Srpska (RS) Radovan Karadžić was sentenced to life imprisonment before the International Court of Justice for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, including shelling, terrorizing and sniper attacks on the citizens of Sarajevo.
Also, former commander of the Army of the Republika Srpska, Ratko Mladić, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
(FENA) A. B.
