A group of peace activists and war veterans, former members of the Army of RBiH, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), the Croatian Army (HV), the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), and the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ) will attend the commemorations on 16 April 2024 both in Ahmići and in Trusina.
This year marks 31 years since the war crimes committed in Ahmići near Vitez and in Trusina near Konjic. On that fateful day of 16 April 1993, members of HVO committed a war crime against the (Bosniak) villagers of Ahmići, while members of the Army of BiH committed a war crime against the (Croat) villagers of Trusina.
“Together with war veterans from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, we have attended more than 20 commemorations, going to different places in all three countries to show that we can come together to honour every victim and condemn every crime. In 2018, we attended the commemoration in Trusina, and in 2019, we were in Ahmići. We went to Ahmići and Trusina, these two places that are inextricably linked in our minds by their pain, on several other occasions, but this year we decided, for the first time, to be present both in Ahmići and in Trusina. As we always point out everywhere we go, we come in peace, we unequivocally condemn every crime and by coming together, we hope to show that we can build a culture of memory that will have room for all victims, that together we can build memory in a way that values each human life, mutual aid and building a better society for all of us and our children,” said Amer Delić, member of the Centre for Nonviolent Action and a war veteran of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ahmići are a village in the Vitez municipality where on 16 April 1993, HVO units killed 116 civilians, some of whose remains were never found. The victims included children from three months to seven years old. The oldest victim was 81. Several individuals were tried for this crime before the Hague Tribunal, but all of them have since been released, including Dario Kordić who had been sentenced to 25 years in prison under the command responsibility doctrine.
Among those visiting Ahmići again this year was Mirko Zečević Tadić, a former member of HVO, an underage combatant and a disabled veteran who has spent the last twenty or so years dedicated to the process of reconciliation. He had visited both Ahmići and Trusina before and he hopes attending commemorations will send a clear message of peace.
“Whenever we visit places like this, when we learn about how many civilians were killed there, innocent people, young people, children, the elderly, it’s always distressing. I can’t help but ask myself what kind of person, what kind of man do you have to be to do such things to people who are completely innocent, who are helpless, who can’t defend themselves? But I know that we must come to these places, that as many of us must come, simply to tell ourselves that we can be ‘normal’, that we have to rebuild our values, to tell other people too that we can talk together and live together. I want the people who come to Ahmići and Trusina, especially those in Ahmići, I want them to see that even though I was in the other army, the army that committed those crimes, that I am not the sort of person who would do that. For them to understand that there were also people like me who were ‘normal’ even in the war and were not prepared to commit atrocities. That’s what matters to me, for people to see me as I am: That I belong to a different ethnic group, a different army, but that I am incapable of such terrible things,” explains Mirko Zečević Tadić.
On 16 April 1993, in an attack by the Army of RBiH on Trusina, located some 20 kilometres from Konjic, 19 civilians and three captured members of the HVO were killed. Several individuals have been convicted of this crime by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the trial of Zulfikar Ališpago, commander of the ARBiH special forces unit “Zulfikar”, has been ongoing for 14 years.
Dragica Tomić, president of the association organising the commemoration in Trusina, says that remembering the 16th of April is a warning for the future that every war leaves devastation in its wake.
“Every mother cries the same, every child feels the loss of parents, every brother of a sister and every sister of a brother… That is what April 16th tells us every year. It is very important for me when Ahmići and Trusina are both remembered, what the Centre for Nonviolent Action is doing is important. I also want to point out that Trusina and Ahmići were visited jointly by religious leaders of all the communities in BiH, we have students from Sarajevo and Zagreb visiting… It will take time for things like that to become common, but it’s encouraging that there are people who have shown that they can take that path, the war veterans, the students, and the religious leaders have shown that… This is proof that commemorations can be marked jointly, no matter who committed the crime and to which ethnicity the victims belonged. This is a big thing for Bosnia and Herzegovina, it’s a leap forward,” said Dragica Tomić who visited Ahmići together with peace activists and laid flowers at the memorial for the victims from this village. Back in 2022, Dragica Tomić was the host in Trusina to representatives of the victims’ association from Stupni Do near Vareš, and she then took part in the visit to Stupni Do.
Under the organisation of the Centre for Nonviolent Action, peace activists and war 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, Ahmići near Vitez, Grabovica, Uborak and Sutina near Mostar, Briševo and Zecovi near Prijedor, Korićanske stijene, Stupni Do near Vareš, Boderište near Brčko, the bridge over the Sava in Brčko, Bradina near Konjic, Skelani near Srebrenica, the Silo in Tarčin near Hadžići, Lozje near Goražde, Rogatica, and in Serbia in Grdelička klisura near Leskovac, Varvarin near Kruševac, Aleksinac, as well as in Croatia in Pakrac, Varivode and Gošić near Knin.