Ahmići massacre
The Ahmići massacre was a war crime during the Croatian-Bosniak war within the Bosnian War and the culmination of the ethnic cleansing in the Lašva Valley by the political and military leadership of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna against Bosniaks in April 1993.
In Ahmići , a village in the municipality of Vitez in Bosnia and Herzegovina , between 117 and 120 Bosnian Muslims were killed in the massacre on April 16, 1993, mostly by Bosnian-Croatian soldiers from the Hrvatsko vijeće obrane (HVO), including numerous women and children . According to the 2004 appeal ruling by the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the attack on Ahmići was carried out by a company from the IV Battalion of the HVO Military Police; together with the anti-terrorist unit " Jokery " ( transliterated also Džokeri ) of the IV. Battalion of the HVO military police, which consists of around 30 men and was founded in January 1993, some of whose members are said to have worn black uniforms. In addition, the special unit Vitezovi ("The Knights") and the Viteška Brigade from Vitez, the Nikola Šubić Zrinski Brigade from Busovača and units of the Home Guard were involved in the attack . In addition, numerous members of the Croatian army as well as several Croatian residents from Ahmići and the surrounding villages are said to have been involved in the attacks.
The ICTY in The Hague pronounced several judgments against the then politicians and military of the Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina . Among them the politician responsible for Central Bosnia Dario Kordić (25 years old, released in mid-2014), the commander of the 4th battalion Paško Ljubičić (10 years old), the commander of the 1st company of the 4th battalion Vladimir Santić (18 years old, released early in 2009) , the soldier of the anti-terrorist unit "Jokery" of the IV Battalion Miroslav Bralo (20 years) and the HVO soldier from Ahmići Drago Josipović (12 years). In addition, the commander and later general of the HVO, Tihomir Blaškić , who was convicted of war crimes, is associated with the massacre.
history
background
When the Yugoslav war reached Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, the Bosnian-Croatian leaders, supported by the Croatians from Herzegovina and especially by the Croatian Ministry of Defense in Zagreb , decided to establish a separate state within Bosnia and Herzegovina and later to join Croatia to create one To create Greater Croatia. On April 3, 1993, the Bosnian-Croatian leadership met in Mostar to discuss the implementation of the Vance-Owen Plan and to promote the creation of this state under the name of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna . Plans were developed to annex territories in accordance with the American and British negotiators' peace plan, Cyrus Vance and David Owen . From April 15, 1993, the Croatian-Muslim conflict, which had been smoldering since mid-1992, escalated. With the support of Croatia, the HVO demanded the withdrawal of the Bosnian government troops from those areas that were to be controlled by the Croats according to the Vance-Owen Plan, and the signing of the agreement. When President Alija Izetbegović rejected the April 15 ultimatum , the HVO finally began to occupy the areas in an organized manner and carried out ethnic cleansing, which resulted in numerous war crimes and looting .
Course of the Bosnian-Croatian attack
At a meeting on April 15, 1993 in the restaurant of the Hotel Vitez in the nearby town of the same name, the Bosnian-Croatian military commanders and political leaders decided on a first strike that was to create the new borders of central Bosnia . Croatian residents of the villages concerned were informed in advance of the plan, some of whom were already involved in the preparation. At the same time, Croatian women and children were evacuated on the eve of the attack. The telephone lines were also cut and all communication links in the community were brought under the control of the HVO. At dawn of the next day, the HVO finally attacked Vitez and numerous surrounding villages in the Lašva Valley, including Ahmići, in a series of lightning attacks.
The attack on Ahmići began from three sides and was carried out in such a way that the fleeing Muslim population was pushed south, where hedge and snipers were waiting for them. In Ahmići and the neighboring village of Šantići , Croatian soldiers went from house to house in small groups of around five to ten men, killing or wounding Bosniak civilians and setting fire to their houses, stables and mosques . 169 houses and all mosques were destroyed. The mosque of Ahmići in the lower village was blown up with four kilograms of explosives by Miroslav Bralo . Images of the collapsed minaret of the mosque went around the world as a symbol of the Bosniak-Croatian war. No Muslims lived in Ahmići after the attack. Between 117 and 120 were killed, including 32 women and 11 children. Most of the men were rounded up and then shot at close range. About 20 people whose bodies were found in a field were killed by precise shots. Military experts concluded that they were shot by snipers. Other bodies that were so charred that they could not be identified were found in the burned-out houses. Later investigations showed that flamethrowers were also used . The posture of some corpses indicated that they were burned alive. The survivors were interned in Croatian prison camps. B. in the Dretelj camp . The rest had fled.
Political reactions and consequences
British United Nations peacekeeping forces stationed in Vitez then came to Ahmići to conduct an investigation. The local commander, Colonel Bob Stewart , took a television crew with him. Its pictures showed UN troops pulling the burned bodies of adults and children from the smoldering remains of a house in the village. In view of the international attention that Ahmići's televised images received, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) opened an investigation into the massacre. 18 Croatians were charged by the ICTY with war crimes committed or related to war crimes in Ahmići. In five cases charges had to be dropped because of lack of evidence or the death of the accused; five others were convicted of their crimes in Ahmići, four for crimes related to Ahmići, and five were acquitted.
literature
- Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] - Office of Russian and European Analysis (Ed.): Balkan Battlegrounds: A Military History of the Yugoslav Confict, 1990-1995 . tape II . Washington DC 2003, Annex 40 - The "Ahmici Massacre" of April 16, 1993: A Military Analysis, p. 417-420 .
- Charles R. Shrader: The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History, 1992–1994 (= Eastern European studies . Volume 23 ). Texas A&M University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-58544-261-4 , The ABiH Main Attack, April, 1993: Busovaca, Kiseljak, Zenica, and Elsewhere - Ahmici, pp. 92-95 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b ICTY: Kordić and Čerkez verdict . Pp. 207-216. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
- ↑ PHOTO: INCIDENT NA DOČEKU Kordiću dovikivao 'ubojico' pa ga policija spašavala od linča . In: jutarnji.hr . ( jutarnji.hr [accessed December 27, 2017]).
- ↑ Philipp Ther: The dark side of the nation states: "Ethnic cleansing" in modern Europe . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-36806-0 , p. 248 .
- ↑ Shrader (see literature), p. 94.