Croatian political activist Pero Mrnarevic visited on Saturday the Bosnian village of Ahmici and paid his respects to more than 100 civilians who were killed there by Bosnian Croat forces during the 1992-1995 war.
“I simply wanted to reach my personal ethical peace which says that we cannot stay silent to the war crimes which were committed in our name and simply to distance myself from such criminal policy because when others are being killed, our brothers and sisters are being killed,“ Mrnarevic said.
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Forces of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) attacked the village on April 16, 1993, as part of an ethnic cleansing operation, killing 116 Bosniaks. Among them were 32 women and 11 children.
The families of the victims are still searching for 29 bodies of their loved ones.
Six people were convicted for their involvement in the Ahmici massacre, five of them in the Hague-based International Court for Former Yugoslavia.
Among them is Dario Kordic, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison but was released five years ago after serving two-thirds of his sentence.
Mrnarevic said he went to Ahmici to “point out in whose name” the atrocities were committed.
“It was important to hear different voices coming from Croatia, voices of Croatian citizens who have full respect for Bosnia and Herzegovina and who want to live not only in peace but in love and respect,” he said.
He also commented on a recent lecture which Dario Kordic gave at the Zagreb University. Several students tried to stop his speech about God, calling Kordic a war criminal.
“Nationalism, xenophobia and animosity are increasing in all states in the post-war period. Although those voices are loud, there are more people like us who want to live normal lives, unburdened by the past and by attempts to equalise the aggressors and the victims,” Mrnarevic said.
