Two days ago, on May 10, 1992, the Serbian aggressor committed a crime against the Bosniaks of Grapska near Doboj. Previously, he pounded the village with fierce artillery fire, and he also acted with snipers from several directions, not making any distinction between the population on any basis. According to the testimony of the surviving witnesses that day, Serbian forces shelled Grapska from seven different firing positions, which speaks of the intent with which the aggressor treated the Bosniak civilian population. The shelling of houses in the village, as well as sniping against civilians, among whom were children, women and the elderly and infirm, protected by international humanitarian law, was actually a strategy of intolerable terror aimed at ethnically cleansing Grapska from of the Bosniak population.
Shelled settlement, killed children
- As a result of shelling and sniping, as many as 34 people died, including four children. Many were killed while trying to flee from their houses to shelters. One of the mass crimes in Grapska, on May 10, took place in the house of Mehmed Hurtić in the hamlet of Bare. Serbian forces noticed Bosniak civilians in Hurtić's house and from close range hit her basement with a tank missile. Seven civilians were killed, three of whom were children: Alić Kemala with her children (Amel and Amela), Ahmić Jusuf, Hidić Ajša, Mustafić Ibrahim and the girl Amela Hidić. Eight civilians were wounded: Alić Hazima, Hurtić Džemaludin, Hurtić Esma, Hidić Edina (a girl who lost both legs), Hidić Muhamed (who lost one leg), Hidić Emina, Krdžalić Remza and Hidić Jasmina, also a minor girl - said Almir Grabovica, senior associate at the Institute for Research on Crimes against Humanity and International Law.
Turbe in Grapska built after the aggression Photo: Avaz
On the same day, another monstrous and cruel mass crime was committed against the civilian Bosniak population of Grapska. After occupying the village, the criminals set fire to Bosniak houses in the hamlet of Hurtići and mercilessly killed the Bosniak population. In front of the house of the immobile and sick old man Hurtić Šerif, his cousins Hurtić Zarif and Hurtić Ibrahim were shot. Hurtić Izet, the Sheriff's son, begged the criminals not to burn down the house because his immobile father was lying there on a sick bed. He couldn't beg them. They shot him too. Then they put his dead body in the house, as well as the bodies of Zarif and Ibrahim Hurtić. The sick Sheriff lay powerless in his bed and looked at the body of his dead son. There was no end to evil. Criminals set fire to the house where the Sheriff was burned alive together with the bodies of his murdered son and two murdered relatives and neighbors.
On the same day, a boy named Denis Delić from Bukovački Čivči, who was only eleven years old, was killed in Grapska. During the aggressor attack, he happened to be in Grapska with his mother and two sisters. They came to Grapska in mid-April 1992 to stay with their mother's father. In her testimony, his mother states, among other things: "During the attack on Grapska, I was in a shelter with my children and several of my neighbors." In the afternoon, Meho Hasančević entered the basement where we were staying and said that the Chetniks were already entering the village and that if anyone wanted to leave the village, he would lead them. I started carrying my little girl who was only 13 months old in my arms, and Denis and his older sister, who was 16 years old at the time, were walking beside me. We followed the river that passed through the village and had a deep bed, so we were well protected even though there was shooting from all sides. At one point, the eldest daughter fell into the water and said, "Mom, I'm wounded." As I turned to pick her up, my son Denis was shot in the back and died. We were forced to return to the shelter we were in, and before that we took my son Denis near the bridge of the mentioned river. When the shooting stopped, my brother came, whom I asked to bring my murdered son. Not long after, my son Denis was brought, whom I left at Ibrahim Hidić's house."
- After the capture of Grapska, twenty-five Bosniak civilians; mostly elderly, infirm and sick persons, as well as disabled persons and women, among whom was one minor child; it remained in Grapska until June 13, 1992. They were detained in two Bosniak houses next to the main road. Armed guards forced them to collect and bury the bodies of their murdered relatives. For the criminals, they also had to perform manual labor in connection with the robbery of Bosniak houses. They collected livestock, and loaded various work machines, white goods, furniture and other goods looted from the village onto the trucks. On June 13, 1992, in the morning hours, they, in fear of the shooting that was reaching the village, frantically came to the parking lot of the "Grapska" inn, which was located on the road to Modriča. After half an hour of shooting, the infamous Nikola Jorgić aka Jorga appeared in front of the inn with another armed person. Mirsad Hadžić, who watched everything from the window of the neighboring house, states in his testimony: "The jeep stopped in front of the inn where Nikola Jorgić got out of the car together with his companion, and then they started shooting with automatic weapons at a group of people gathered in front inns. On that occasion, they killed 25 people, among whom were eight women, one child, three mentally retarded, five severely disabled people, two of whom were immobile. The teacher Hurtić Ibrahim better known as Brajko, his wife Ferzeta and their minor son Admir were killed, then Adem Muratović, an invalid without legs, and his wife Mevla, and Alić Alema, an immobile old woman, and other old and emaciated persons." After the mass crime committed by Nikola Jorgić and his helper, the witness Mirsad Hadžić and two other prisoners were ordered to carry the corpses of the murdered inhabitants of Grapska to a pit dug in a meadow next to a stream - said Grabovica.
Able-bodied men were separated from women, children and the elderly
After the capture of Grapska on May 10, 1992, in the hamlet of Krdžalići, criminals captured a large number of Bosniaks. Under armed escort, they were taken to Kostajnica. There, able-bodied men were separated from women, children, elderly and infirm persons, whom they expelled to free territory. The aforementioned criminal Jorgić participated in that dirty business, assisting Major Stanković. About 400 men were taken to the Bare camp where they were systematically tortured and ill-treated. They were transferred from Bar to Manjača. They were the first inmates from Bosnia and Herzegovina in that camp. From Manjaca, they were later transferred to camps in Stara Gradiška, Batković (Bijeljina), Kula (Sarajevo) and Rudo. A significant number of them did not manage to survive the torture and torture in those camps.
For the crimes committed against Bosniaks in the Grapska area, the Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf found the criminal Nikola Jorgić guilty of genocide and sentenced him to life imprisonment. This is the first verdict for genocide committed on the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 aggression. years. Milan Ninković, Borislav Paravac, Andrija Bjelošević and Milan Savić are on trial at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the crimes committed in the Grapska area. They are accused of participating in a joint criminal enterprise that included the persecution of the civilian Bosniak and Croat population. At that time, Paravac was the president, and Ninković was a member of the Crisis Staff of the Doboj municipality, and Bjelošević was the head of the Center for Security Services (CSB), while Savić was his deputy.
According to the results of previous scientific research within the scientific project of the Institute for the Research of Crimes against Humanity and International Law of the University of Sarajevo, which will soon be published in the form of a scientific study, the total number of killed Bosniaks from Grapska in the period from 1992-1995. is 104.