UDIK Udruženje za društvena istraživanja i komunikacije
The Association for Social Research and Communication (UDIK)reminds the public of the war crimes committed during the armed conflict between the Croatian Defense Council and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bugojno during the war against Bosnia and Herzegovina. In July 1993 and in the following months, numerous crimes were committed against the Bosniak and Croat population, and a certain number of persons of Serbian ethnicity were killed.
According to the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, about fifty exhumations were carried out in the area of Bugojno. Mostly in the period from 1996 to 2000. The youngest person who disappeared in the municipality of Bugojno is 19-year-old Jozo Lučić, while the oldest victim is Sekula Nikšić, who was 87 years old at the time of the murder.
Illegal imprisonment, forced labor, torture, and killing of Croats from Bugojno took place in several locations, some of which were the garage of a private house in the Donjići settlement, the Marxist Center – Nun’s Cloister, the Vojin Paleksić Elementary School, the Iskra FC Stadium camp, and the premises of the BH Bank. In 2012, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Alija Osmić, a member of the Military Police of the 307th Motorized Brigade of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to three years in prison for war crimes against prisoners of war. Osman Šego and Enes Handžić were found guilty of war crimes against civilians. Šego was sentenced to five years in prison, and Handžić to eight years in prison.
From 2008 to 2014, the State Court tried Nisvet Gasal, Senad Dautović and Musajb Kukavica. TheCourt found them guilty of the war crimes against prisoners of war and sentenced Gasal and Kukavica to four years in prison each, and Dautović to seven years in prison. In November 2015, the same court confirmed the indictment against Mehmed Sadiković, the warden of the Iskra FC Stadium camp, alleging that he assisted in the preparation and commission of criminal offences against Croat prisoners and prisoners of war. The proceedings were suspended in 2020 due to the death of the accused.
The killings of Bosniaks took place at several locations in Bugojno. A massacre of 45 civilians from the settlements of Vrbanja, Crniče and Vrpeč was committed. The only person convicted of crimes against Bosniaks in Bugojno is Slavko Šakić, a member of the Special Purposes HVO Unit “Garavi”. Šakić “participated in the murder, and participated and assisted in the preparation and commission of criminal acts by inhumanely treating Bosniak detainees, participating in their unjustified deprivation of liberty, detention in the Motel “Akvarijum”, and keeping them in inhumane conditions”. After reaching a plea agreement, the State Court sentenced him in 2008 to eight years and six months of imprisonment.
The State Court is currently investigating the former president of the War Presidency of Bugojno MunicipalityDževad Mlaćo, and the commander of the ARB&H OG West Selmo Cikotić. Mlaćo is accused of ordering the killing of Croat prisoners, while Cikotić is charged with failing to prevent the perpetration of criminal offenses of killing and inhumane treatment.
Although more than three decades have passed, not all those killed have been found and buried with dignity. Many families are still waiting for justice, since not all perpetrators have been prosecuted. This mostly complicates the process of reconciliation and dealing with the war horrors of the 1990s.
Three years ago, UDIKpublished the aforementioned cases of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our mission of documenting war crimes aims to preserve the memory of all innocent war victims. The facts we publish within these books give hope that we will learn lessons from them and that the monstrosities of the 1990s will not be repeated.
On the occasion of the anniversary, we pay tribute to all Bugojno war victims.