20 Years after the Crime in Sjeverin

The anniversary of the suffering of the victims from Sjeverin was observed on Monday, October 22^nd in Priboj.

Family members and friends of the victims, representatives of non-governmental organizations from Belgrade, the HLC and Women in Black, and numerous citizens paid their respects by laying wreaths at the bridge and throwing flowers from nearby into the  River Lim  in the village of Mioče (BiH), where members of the Avengers unit took 16 Muslims, citizens of the Republic of Serbia, out of the bus twenty years ago. After this, a commemorative gathering entitled “Let’s Not Forget Sjeverin” was organized in the Cultural Centre in Priboj, which was attended by victims’ family members, representatives of the Association for the Protection of the Rights of Banished and Displaced Citizens from the Municipality of Priboj, Members of  Parliament Kenan Hajdarević and Emir Elfić, representatives of Bosniak cultural and religious institutions in Sandžak and representatives of the HLC. The Mayor of Priboj, Lazar Rvović, attended the commemoration for the first time this year, and he promised that the Municipality of Priboj, in cooperation with the Islamic Community, will do everything that is necessary to raise a monument to the memory of the victims from Sjeverin.

The  citizens of Sjeverin were taken off the bus from Sjeverin to Priboj, on that part of  the road which passes through the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, then kidnapped and killed. Members of the “Avengers” unit, under the command of Milan Lukić, intercepted the bus in Mioče, BiH, and after identifying the passengers,  took from the bus  Muslims only, 15 men and one woman. They put them on a truck and transported them to Višegrad where, at the “Vilina Vlas” Hotel,they tortured them physically and mentally. They  then  took them to the bank of the  River Drina, where they executed them. All the victims are still registered as missing, except for Medredin Hodžić, whose mortal remains were found in Lake Perućac in 2010.