Bosnia marks 34 years since Koricani Cliffs massacre: 'One of the darkest chapters of history was written here'

Participants threw roses into the approximately 300-metre-deep gorge where the victims were killed and remembered them with prayers.

The detainees were ordered to line up along the edge of the road overlooking the cliff and kneel before gunmen opened fire. According to testimony concerning the massacre, the shooting lasted for more than 15 minutes.

Jusuf Arifagic said his message from Koricani Cliffs remained the same as in previous years.

"I am trying to send a strong message to all levels of government, which should understand that all the people who died here in 1992 died for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina," he said.

"In a way, their lives are woven into the foundations of the state. If we forget the truth here, if we forget this history that was written here in blood, then we have to ask ourselves what the future holds."

Arifagic said sites such as Koricani Cliffs should be regulated and protected through state-level legislation, with infrastructure built to serve as a permanent testimony for future generations.

"One of the darkest chapters of history was written here," he said.

"People here were first robbed and then shot. Afterwards, grenades were thrown to kill those who had survived, and then they went down into the canyon and killed people."

Arifagic said 184 victims have been identified to date, adding that because of what was done to the victims' remains, not all of them may ever be identified.

A total of 224 detainees were shot at Koricani Cliffs on Mount Vlasic in August 1992 after being brought to the site under the pretext that they were being taken for an exchange.

Bosniaks from Prijedor who had previously been held in detention camps were taken to Koricani Cliffs by members of an intervention unit of the then Republika Srpska police in Prijedor.

They were ordered to kneel along the road above the gorge before being shot in the back, with their bodies falling into a ravine more than 300 metres deep.

Human remains belonging to 182 Bosniaks and Croats from the Prijedor and Kotor Varos areas were found at three locations at Koricani Cliffs. They included the remains of 177 Bosniaks and five Croats.

The search for all of the victims' remains continues, as the bodies of murdered detainees were subsequently moved and buried at other locations.

Darko Mrdja, a former member of the intervention unit of the Prijedor Public Security Station, pleaded guilty before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in the crime.

Ten former Prijedor police officers were also convicted by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sasa Zecevic, Radoslav Knezevic and Marinko Ljepoja were each sentenced to 23 years in prison. Zoran Babic was sentenced to 22 years, while Milorad Skrbic and Dusan Jankovic each received 21-year sentences.

Zeljko Stojnic was sentenced to 15 years, Damir Ivankovic to 14 years, Ljubisa Cetic to 13 years and Gordan Djuric to eight years. Ivankovic, Cetic and Djuric were sentenced following plea agreements.

The commemoration was attended by Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Becirovic and Federation of BiH Labour and Social Policy Minister Adnan Delic.