More than 3 thousand civilians killed by Serbs in the Bosnian War were commemorated on White Ribbon Day

SARAJEVO (AA) – 3,176 civilians who were killed by the Serbs in 1992, when the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina began, were identified with the white ribbons they tied on their arms and the white sheets they hung in their homes in the city of Prijedor and its surroundings, and were commemorated in the capital Sarajevo. Within the scope of the White Ribbon Day commemoration events that have been held in the country since 2012, programs were held throughout the country, especially in Prijedor.

At the commemoration event in Sarajevo, university students symbolically tied a white ribbon to the arms of citizens on Ferhadiye Street. Students opened banners describing the incident in Prijedor in which 3,176 Bosnian civilians were massacred. Chairman of the Presidency Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnian member Denis Becirovic, in his written statement, stated that the incident was considered a war crime in international courts and said: It is our duty to build a society where truth, justice and human dignity are respected.

We must leave a clear message to future generations that war crimes and crimes against humanity must never be repeated anywhere, anytime. – What happened in Prijedor In March 1992, when the war had just begun in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbian origin Simo Drljaca, who was appointed head of the State Security Agency (UDBA) in the former Yugoslavia, armed 1775 Serbs serving in 13 police stations in Prijedor. On the night of April 29, Serbian troops captured the city of Prijedor, whose population was mostly Bosniak at that time.

Heavily armed Serbian troops attacked villages around Prijedor on 23 May 1992. Serbs killed 3,176 civilians, including 102 children, in the massacre in Prijedor and its surroundings. With an announcement made on local radio on May 31, 1992, Serbs instructed non-Serbs to hang white sheets on the windows of their houses and to tie white ribbons on their arms when going out. While non-Serbian civilians were identified using this method, those identified were taken to prison camps and subjected to massacres, torture and rape there.

Approximately 30 thousand civilians from Prijedor were held captive in concentration camps in Omarska, Keraterm, Kozarac, Trnopolje and Manjaca at that time. Tens of thousands of people were exiled from their homes. May 31, when the announcement was made on the radio, is commemorated as White Ribbon Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and citizens show that they do not forget this day and the victims of the war by wearing white ribbons on their arms.