Today marks thirty-three years since the abduction of passengers at the Štrpci railway station, when members of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) removed 20 passengers from train no. 671, operating on the Belgrade–Bar line, and subsequently killed them. For more than three decades, the families of the victims have been waiting for justice before the judiciary of the Republic of Serbia and continue to search for the mortal remains of their loved ones.
On 27 February 1993, members of the unit “Avengers,” which operated within the VRS, removed 19 citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one unidentified person from the train and murdered them. The victims of the crime in Štrpci were: Adem Alomerović, Džafer Topuzović, Esad Kapetanović, Fehim Bakija, Fevzija Zeković, Fikret Memović, Halil Zupčević, Iljaz Ličina, Ismet Babačić, Šećo Softić, Jusuf Rastoder, Muhedin Hanić, Nijazim Kajević, Rasim Ćorić, Rifat Husović, Safet Preljević, Senad Đečević, Tomo Buzov, Zvjezdan Zuličić, and one unidentified person. The oldest victim was 59 years old, and the youngest was 16.
To date, the mortal remains of only four victims have been found. The body of Halil Zupčević was discovered at the end of 2009 on the shore of Lake Perućac, while the remains of Rasim Ćorić, Jusuf Rastoder, and Iljaz Ličina were recovered from the same lake in 2010.
Before courts in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, ten individuals have been convicted for the crime in Štrpci. Nebojša Ranisavljević, commander of the “Skakavac” platoon of the Intervention Company of the Višegrad Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS, was sentenced by final judgment of the Supreme Court of Montenegro in 2003 to 15 years’ imprisonment. Mićo Jovičić, a member of the Višegrad Brigade of the VRS, pleaded guilty before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016 and was sentenced to five years in prison. In August 2023, the Appellate Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina upheld the first-instance judgment sentencing Obrad and Novak Poluga, Petko Inđić, Radojica Ristić, Dragan Šekarić, Oliver Krsmanović, and Miodrag Mitrašinović, members of the Second Podrinje Light Infantry Brigade of Višegrad, to 13 years’ imprisonment each. In October 2023, the Appellate Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina upheld the first-instance judgment sentencing Boban Inđić, commander of the Intervention Company of the Višegrad Brigade, to 15 years in prison.
In October 2025, before the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade, in the retrial concerning the Štrpci abduction, Gojko Lukić and Duško Vasiljević were sentenced at first instance to ten years’ imprisonment each, and Dragana Đekić to five years’ imprisonment. The original indictment for this crime was filed only in 2014, and a further five years passed before the trial began. During the proceedings, defendants Jovan Lipovac and Ljubiša Vasiljević died. The case is currently pending before the Court of Appeal.
No proceedings have been conducted against representatives of the army, police, or civilian authorities in Serbia who failed to prevent the abduction of civilians from the train, despite having been informed of the planned operation.
The Humanitarian Law Center preserves the memory of the victims of the Štrpci abduction and provides continuous support to their families in efforts to obtain justice and institutional recognition of their suffering from the Republic of Serbia.
Additional resources available in Serbian language:
- The “Štrpci” case before the Higher Court in Belgrade
- Analysis of the war crimes trial before the Higher Court in Bijelo Polje: facts, legal issues, and political implications – The Abduction in Štrpci
- Digital archival collection Crimes in Sandžak in the 1990s
- Cultures of Memory, Episode 11: War and Peace in Sandžak
