Relatives of those who were set ablaze in the 1992 Pionirska Street Fire in the eastern town of Visegrad described the gruesome crime to N1 after Bosnia’s State Court found that ex-Bosnian Serb fighter Radomir Susnjar was one of the perpetrators and sentenced him to 20 behind bars on Wednesday.
The Pionirska Street fire is one of the most infamous atrocities committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia.
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Bosnian Serb forces rounded at least 57 Bosniaks and locked them up in a house, which they then set ablaze. They then shot at it to prevent those captured inside from escaping.
“A baby, which did not even have a name, was burned,” said Huso Kurspahic, a witness in the trial who lost nine members of his family, among them “one parent and two sisters.”
According to court documents of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), some 3,000 Bosniaks were killed in the mass murders in Visegrad and its surrounding areas during the 1990s conflict in Bosnia, including hundreds of women and children.
The Tribunal convicted ex Bosnian Serb fighters Milan Lukic and Sredoje Lukic in 2009 for the war crimes in Visegrad, finding that the former was also involved in the Pionirska Street Fire.
“I testified in the Hague court five times and I am proud that I am able to say who killed my father, mother and family and to speak out publicly so the entire world hears what happened in the 20th century,” Kurspahic stressed.
“I am proud of this ruling, however, justice can never be satisfied,” he added.
Kurspahic explained that he knows Susnjar, whom he called by his nickname – ‘Lalco’, personally for 40 years. “He was one of those from the younger generation at school.”
“I would pass by his house daily, he would deny it all, but everything we have been saying was proven true,” Kurspahic said.
The head of the ‘Woman – Victims of War’ association, Bakira Hasecic, also testified against Susnjar.
“I am glad that we, the surviving victims, have seen a fair trial,” she said, adding that “it is very difficult to speak about the Pionirska Street fire and about my Visegrad.”
Among those who were set ablaze that day were entire families, she explained.
She also said she does not think all the victims were named and that the exact number of them remains unknown.
“According to the Hague tribunal ruling, it was 53, although we know for sure the number to be more than 70,” she concluded.
