War veterans from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, former members of the Army of RBiH (ARBiH), the Croat Defence Council (HVO), the Croatian Army (HV), the Army of RS (VRS) and the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ), attended the commemoration for Serb civilians killed in Bradina near Konjic, on 25. 5. 2021.
According to the victims’ association, on 25 May 1992 and the in the days following, more than 40 people were killed. The bodies of 25 persons were exhumed from the mass grave found adjacent to the local church in Bradina, while other remains were found at various locations and five persons are still unaccounted for. In the months after 25 May, some of the civilians were also imprisoned in inhumane conditions, subjected to beatings, various forms of torture, and some were killed.
“Today we come to Bradina, as we go to many other places, to pay our respects to all victims, express our solidarity with the families of those killed and call for the prosecution of the perpetrators and for finding the missing. Although we are former fighters, today we come here as peace activists, as people who have witnessed the brutality of war and want to make sure that our children never see such suffering repeated. It is particularly important that today we have an opportunity to honour victims in Bradina as one of the major execution grounds of the Serb people,” said Amer Delić, a war veteran of ARBiH and member of the Centre for Nonviolent Action.
A trial against 15 people accused of crimes against the Serb population in the Konjic area, including the population of Bradina, is currently under way at the Court of BiH. They stand accused of crimes against humanity as members of the Army of RBiH, HVO, MUP RBiH, the BiH Territorial Defence and paramilitary formations. According to the indictment, they are charged with having “planned, ordered, instigated, aided and abetted by act or omission the persecution of the Serb civilian population on political, ethnic, cultural and religious grounds, in breach of the rules of international law by way of murders, rape, imprisonment and other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture and other inhuman acts of similar nature committed with the intent to inflict severe suffering or serious physical or mental injury, or health damage.”
Three people, Esad Landžo, Zdravko Mucić and Hazim Delić, have been convicted by the ICTY for crimes against the Serb population of the Konjic area.
Speaking on behalf of the Serb Orthodox Church Parish of Konjic, hiereus Dejan Grčić said that the liturgy and congregation in Bradina aimed to show that the place was still alive.
“Thank you for coming, for showing interest, your support means a lot to us. Your support is also a demonstration of interreligious dialogue and brotherly love, because by visiting sites such as this in each other’s communities, we express brotherly love and understanding. It is often easier to visit places where members of our own people were victimised, but it is more difficult to go where “others” suffered,” said Dejan Grčić, commenting on the arrival of the mixed group of war veterans to Bradina.
Đoko Pupčević, a veteran of VRS from Šamac, said that it was important to come to all places of suffering and honour all victims.
“People were killed in their homes simply for being of a different nationality, a different identity. As veterans of all the different armies, we have come here today to express solidarity with the families of victims in Bradina and pray for all those who were killed. It is important to condemn not just this one, but all crimes committed in our region,” Pupčević said.
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, Ahmići near Vitez, Grabovica near Mostar, Skelani near Srebrenica, Briševo and Zecovi near Prijedor, Korićanske stijene, Stupni Do near Vareš, Boderište near Brčko, the bridge over the Sava in Brčko, and in Serbia in Grdelička klisura near Leskovac, Varvarin near Kruševac, Aleksinac, as well as in Croatia in Pakrac, Varivode and Gošić near Knin.
“As a group of war veterans from once warring armies, we have come to Bradina today primarily in the interest of the future of this region. Looking back, a lot of blood was spilled and there were many wrongdoings, but our coming here after all these negative things is truly important. We do not come as cowards, we are now heroes of peace offering a hand, wherever we go and we do not look to distinguish victims, to see what side they were from. We honour all victims and call on everyone to have the decency today to bow their heads and say a prayer in their own way for all the victims,” said Stanislav Krezić, an HVO veteran and prison camp survivor from Mostar, following the commemoration.
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