SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
A sombre ceremony held Saturday has marked the 23rd anniversary of one of the Bosnian War’s most brutal massacres.
On June 27, 1992, the eastern town of Visegrad saw 70 of its Bosnian Muslim inhabitants -- including women and children -- killed by Serb forces in one incident.
Serb fighters forced their victims into a house before locking the doors and setting the structure ablaze. Those who tried to escape the fire through the windows were shot with automatic weapons.
Among the victims was a one-year-old baby.
Saturday’s ceremony -- held at the scene of the massacre -- was attended by relatives of those murdered, as well as the Women Victims of War Association.
Esad Tufekcic, whose two young children and wife were killed, said the massacre should never be forgotten.
"What happened here was a tragedy that the human mind cannot understand.
"I still do not understand how a human being could burn a mother with her child in her arms," said Tufekcic.
President of the Association of Women Victims of War, Bakira Hasecic, said that as part of 23rd anniversary a monument to the victims would be placed in the town.
So far, the International Criminal Court and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, have sentenced just eight Serb soldiers to prison for crimes committed in Visegrad.
Among the criminals, only Milan Lukic was jailed for life; the other seven defendants have received sentences of between 8 to 30 years.
Many of those thought to be involved in the massacre have never been brought to trial.
