At the invitation of the Višegrad ’92 Association of Families of the Disappeared and Civilian Victims of Aggression, Women in Black and The Women of Srebrenica will join in marking fifteen years of suffering of Bosniaks in the Višegrad area. It will be commemorated on May 26, 2007 at an event entitled ’Three Thousand Roses for Three Thousand Lives.’
Through this act, we will express our support to, respect for, solidarity with, and compassion for the families of the victims. Through this act, we will continue our practice of visiting the sites of crimes committed in our name. This policy honors the dignity of the victims, allows us to act in solidarity with them, acknowledges that crimes were committed in our name, and seeks forgiveness.
On this occasion, we remember who is responsible for the terrible crimes in Višegrad. Among those who are responsible are members of the Višegrad Brigade of the Army of Republika Srpska, which was under the command of the Užice Corps, including Milan and Sredoje Lukic, Mitar Vasiljevic and others who were indicted by the International Criminal Court. They were charged with forcing 70 women, children, and old men, all Bosniaks, to go into on house on Pionir Street in Višegrad on June 14, 1992. Then, they barricaded the house, set it on fire, and shot those who tried to save themselves by escaping through the windows. Everyone who was locked in the house was killed, including 18 children ranging in age from two days to 14 years.
Milan Lukic and Sredoje Lukic were indicted on charges of murdering approximately 70 Bosniaks in the village of Bikavac on June 27, 1992. Allegedly, they are among those who blockaded those people in a house near Višegrad and set the house on fire. This caused the death of all of those people, except for one, including six children under 11 years of age.
Milan Lukic was also charged with the murder of 5 of the 7 Bosniak men who were executed on the bank of the Drina River on June 7, 1992.
Milan and Sredoje Lukic were also charged with the beating Bosniak men who were held in an internment camp in the Uzamnica Barracks in Višegrad.
Milan Lukic was individually charged with still other murder charges. Several times, he led groups of Bosniak men to the banks of the Drina River, near Višegrad, and killed them. He is also charged with the brutal murder of a Bosnian Muslim woman in Potok, a town near Višegrad.
Milan Lukic, as one of the members of the ‘White Eagles’ and ‘’Avengers’ military formations, is also responsible for the murder of kidnapped Bosniaks from Sjeverin and Strbac.
On this occasion, we remember that the responsibility for crimes in eastern Bosnia is born by the Miloševic Regime and the state of Serbia, who planned, organized, and perpetrated these crimes along with the Army of Republika Srpska. Even after the fall of the Milošević regime, there has been no discontinuity with state-organized crimes. Therefore, we will continue to seek accountability and punishment for all inspirers, commanders, and committers of crimes.
May 25, 2007, Belgrade
Women in Black
