Tuzla massacre

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Memorial to the victims of the explosion

The Tuzla massacre ( Bosnian Masakr na Kapiji ) occurred during the Bosnian war on May 25, 1995 the impact of artillery shell in the UN safe area declared industrial town of Tuzla , in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina . The shelling of the Kapija district was the highest-casualty mass murder of the Bosnian war caused by a single grenade, with 71 deaths and 173 injuries .

prehistory

Tuzla was besieged by troops of the Republika Srpska after the outbreak of the Bosnian War . The city itself was mostly inhabited by Bosniaks and Croats, who ruled and defended the city together. Tuzla is not only one of the largest cities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but was also one of the most economically important centers in the country due to its rich coal and salt deposits. Since Tuzla was never so heavily shelled as other besieged cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the population increased by refugees from around 130,000 to 170,000. Before the massacre, grenade attacks had occurred almost exclusively on the city's airport used by the UN.

On 6 May 1993, decided the Security Council of the United Nations , by Serbian Bosnian troops besieged cities Bihac , Gorazde , Sarajevo , Tuzla and Žepa to UN protected zones to explain. All warring parties were asked to end the armed attacks and hostile acts in these areas and to regard the protected areas as safe areas. At the same time, the Bosnian-Serb associations were asked to withdraw from the protection zones, which they ignored in many places. The heaviest fighting for Tuzla occurred in 1993 and 1994, when the Bosnian-Serbian troops managed to completely enclose the city for ten months.

massacre

M-46 guns of the VRS

Youth Day was celebrated on May 25, 1995 . It was also the first warm day in weeks, which is why many mostly young people agreed to go out. In the Kapija district in the old town, around 1000 to 1500 people romped about in the evenings. At around 8:55 p.m., just under an hour before all the restaurants were closed due to a curfew, a 130 mm artillery shell struck the district and detonated on a cobblestone intersection in front of several cafes and shops. 71 civilians were killed, 106 others seriously and 67 others slightly injured in the explosion. Most of the fatalities were between 15 and 26 years old, only eight of those killed were older than 30. The youngest victim was a two-year-old boy.

According to investigations by local authorities and the UN, the grenade was identified as a 130mm M79 high-explosive detonator grenade, which when detonated creates a natural fragmentation effect of 4,000 to 6,800 fragments. It was fired from a 130mm M-46 cannon made in the Soviet Union in or near the village of Panjik on Mount Ozren. This place is located about 25 km west of the city and was held at that time by the " Taktička Grupa Ozren " ( Tactical Unit Ozren ) of the Army of the Republika Srpska.

Background and procedure

The shelling was triggered by a NATO air strike carried out on the same day on two ammunition dumps of the Bosnian-Serbian troops near Pale , near the headquarters of the Bosnian-Serbian army. This took place after Bosnian Serb troops breached the 20 km exclusion zone around the city of Sarajevo. After the shelling of Tuzla, NATO launched another air strike on the ammunition dumps, while the Bosnian government army carried out attacks on Serbian positions near Tuzla. As the Bosnian Serb troops continued to respond with attacks on civilian targets and now also took UN soldiers hostage, further air strikes were launched to prevent an escalation. Above all, the Bosnian government troops lacked the armament and equipment to smash the siege ring of Tuzla. The war officially ended in November 1995 with the Dayton Accords .

The commander of the "Ozren Tactical Unit" during the shelling, General Novak Đukić , was arrested by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in early November 2007 and brought to trial in Bosnia. During his January 14, 2008 hearing, ukić pleaded not guilty of all charges against him. On June 12, 2009, he was sentenced in the first instance to 25 years in prison for a war crime against the civilian population of Tuzla. This judgment was upheld on September 10, 2010 by the court of appeal.

In 2009 the Tuzla Municipal Council filed a criminal complaint against the Prime Minister of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik . He had previously stated at a rally that the Bosnian army had carried out the Tuzla massacre on its own population in order to accuse the besiegers and to trigger international reactions against the Bosnian Serbs. Dodik's statement was criticized by international representatives in Sarajevo as "unacceptable and unforgivable".

See also

Sources and web links

Commons : Tuzla massacre  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files