Known as the first war crime in Bosnia, State officials marked the 27th anniversary of the suffering of Serbs in northern-Bosnian settlement of Sijekovac, on Tuesday, when 46 civilians, mostly women and children and elderly were killed by members of the Croatian army aided by paramilitary units.

According to officials who spoke at the commemoration, the Sijekovac crime is known as the first war crime in Bosnia, which led to the crimes in Odzak where concentration camps for Serbs were first formed.

Radojka Filipovic, from the Association of families of the deceased and missing persons from the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, said that on March 3, 1992, Croatian regular army crossed the Sava river and aided by paramilitary units consisting of Muslims and Croats, took over the power and started killing the Serbs.

“More than 2,000 Serbs were locked in 10 concentration camps that existed in the area,” said RS Veterans’ Affairs Minister, Dusko Milunovic, said before reading the “permission to commit rape” given to Croatian forces.

Only one person was sentenced for the crimes in Sijekovac, Zemir Kovacevic, who was a member of the Croatian Defence Council. The families of the deceased said that Croatia is also responsible for the crimes in this settlement.

“In 2015, Croatia banned access to its archives and publicly said it would not accept ‘mounted’ indictments against its citizens,” Milorad Kojic from the RS War crimes Research Centre, said.

“At the time of this crime, Bosnian war did not start yet, but the Croatian forces, aided by the local Croats and Muslims decided they should commit such a crime,” Bosnian Serb Presidency member, Milorad Dodik said.

Twenty-seven years after the crime, the Sijekovac settlement is almost completely deserted.