The delegations of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity, the Sarajevo Canton (KS) and the City of Sarajevo as well as the Movement for the Equality of the Serb People paid tribute Thursday to the citizens of Sarajevo who were brutally murdered at Kazani cliffs in 1993.

During 1992 and 1993, soldiers who refused to place themselves under the command of the General Staff of the then Republic of BiH Army brought and killed civilians who were then thrown into a pit. For this war crime, 14 former soldiers of the RBiH Army were sentenced to sentences ranging from 10 months to six years in prison, in 1996. The exact number of Sarajevans killed at Kazani is unknown, and the names of 17 Sarajevo citizens of Serb ethnicity were written on the monument.

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FBiH President Refik Lendo said that they came to Kazani to honour all the victims from this area.

“It is the memory of what happened during the war, the memory of all the civilians who died through no fault of their own, no matter what their name is or what God they pray to. At the same time, we want to send an image of the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that there is and should be room for all its citizens in the entire BiH and that we all contribute together to getting on that train called the EU,” said Lendo.

Igor Stojanovic, the FBiH Vice President, said that the commemoration of the crimes at Kazani is a warning for the future not only of the victims at Kazani but of victims from all over BiH.

The KS Prime Minister Nihad Uk said that this is a brave act and that he is proud to have been part of the convocation that raised the monument at Kazani, even though the text is disputed.

Rajko Zivkoic, the president of the Movement for the Equality of Serb People, said that he is glad that this commemoration happened and that everyone remembers the victims who suffered in this place.

“I am glad that every year we commemorate this event and that the citizens of Sarajevo, not only of the Sarajevo Canton but also of Bosnia and Herzegovina, gather and evoke the memories of dear people who lost their lives here. At the same time, I am sorry that people died here, that they left their lives behind, that someone brought them here and threw them into this pit. We should all learn a lesson that things like this must never happen again, we must send a message that we must live together and in brotherhood and unity,” said Zivkoic.

The Mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic, said that it is everyone's duty every time they come to Kazani, to think about how pointless every war is.

“Today I can repeat the words on the monument: ‘Together we will remember our murdered fellow citizens with sadness and respect’. Today we are here to honor our neighbors who were innocently killed in our Sarajevo. Even today, Sarajevo sends a message that it strongly condemns the killing of any innocent victim, whether in Sarajevo, BiH or anywhere else. Sarajevo has always been on the right side of history and treated all victims equally. I would be proud to see such a monument in Prijedor. I think that the culture of memory is an obligation and duty of all of us in BiH,” said Karic.