War veterans, former members of the Army of RBiH, HVO, HV, VRS and VJ laid flowers and paid their respects to civilians killed in Grabovica.
“We came here to honour the killed civilians and send the message that we mourn all victims, every life lost. As a veteran of the Army of RBiH, this is particularly difficult for me because I know this crime was committed by people wearing the same uniform and the same insignia as me. The killing of innocent civilians cannot be justified, and even today families are still looking for the remains of 17 of their beloved. We cannot turn back the time and put things right, but we want to show that, with all our differences, we can remember all victims together, honour them together and build a more just society,” said Amer Delić from the Centre for Nonviolent Action, a war veteran of the Army of RBiH from Zavidovići.
A group of civilians were killed on 8 and 9 September 1993 in Grabovica, a village located between Jablanica and Mostar. According to the Association of Croat Victims “Grabovica 93”, over those few days in September 1993, 33 civilians were killed and their remains have mostly not been found to this day. Five members of the Army of RBiH have been convicted of this war crime before the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the court judgements, the civilians were killed in a particularly brutal way and among the victims was a four-year-old girl, Mladenka Zadro, killed in her mother’s arms. According to the findings of the Hague Tribunal, one of the people killed was Ivica Cavlović, a member of the Army of RBiH who had stood up against the killing of civilians that fateful September 1993.
“Today, we continue to commemorate the deaths of all civilians. As a Croat and HVO veteran, I am glad that I have participated at other commemorations on different sides, just as I am glad that other veterans came to Grabovica today. I would particularly like to thank the veterans of the Army of BiH who came to Grabovica today, I know it was not easy for them, because I know how I felt when we visited places where the perpetrators had been members of HVO. I see our visit today as something positive, as a step towards bringing people together and increasing trust,” said Stanislav Krezić, an HVO veteran from Mostar.
The mass for the killed civilians was led in Grabovica today by Fra Andrija Jozić, Guardian of the Šćit Monastery. In his speech, he stressed the importance of remembering the victims.
“It is clear that we must create a climate of coexistence, forgiveness, regaining trust, but these basic premises of peacebuilding rest on the foundations of truth,” Jozić said.
Sead Đulić was also in Grabovica today with the group of war veterans. This theatre director and drama teacher, formerly an officer in the Army of RBiH, deals with the crime in Grabovica through the play “Lullaby for Mladenka”.
“It is crucial that more people come to places like these, that they muster the strength and courage to come. Unfortunately, it took us so many years to start coming to each other’s commemorations, but I think this is the way forward. If we continue to look at our victims while they look to theirs, if we do not deal with everything that has happened, we can never move on. This is the way, for us to come from different sides and honour innocent victims. That way is long, slow and difficult, but these positive stories must become prime news, because this is the way to preserve and develop our society,” Đulić said.
Since 2008, the peace organisation Centre for Nonviolent Action, with offices in Sarajevo and Belgrade, has been organising visits by groups of war veterans from Croatia, Serbia and BiH to sites of atrocities against civilians and soldiers committed in the recent war and to official commemorations honouring victims, organised by local and state authorities and victims’ associations.
Under the organisation of the Centre for Nonviolent Action, veterans from the region have attended commemorations in BiH in Gornji Vakuf, at Site 715 near Zavidovići, in Stog near Vozuća, in Novi Grad/Bosanski Novi, Sanski Most (Hrastova Glavica), Sijekovac near Brod, Laništa near Brčko, Trusina near Konjic, Stupni Do near Vareš, Ahmići in Vitez, and in Serbia in Grdelička klisura near Leskovac, Varvarin near Kruševac, Aleksinac, as well as