33 YEARS SINCE THE CRIME AGAINST SERBS IN GORNJI MAGAŠIĆI COMMEMORATED

BRATUNAC, JULY 20 /SRNA/ - The 33rd anniversary of the killing of eight civilians in the village of Gornji Magašići near Bratunac was marked today. The victims, all from this Serbian village, were killed in their family homes by members of the Muslim armed forces from neighboring villages and Srebrenica.

A memorial service was held at the monument for the 24 Serbs from the village who were killed during the past war. The crime committed on this day in 1992 by the Muslim armed forces from Srebrenica and the surrounding villages in Gornji Magašići is considered one of the most brutal, as all the victims were civilians, murdered in their own homes. Surviving residents, descendants, and relatives of the victims, together with a delegation from the municipality and the Veterans' Organization, lit candles for the repose of the souls of the victims, laid flowers, and paid tribute to the murdered Serbian civilians. Speaking about the attack on Gornji Magašići, local resident Radenko Božić said that a ceasefire had been declared, and that on the very first day of that ceasefire, Muslims from neighboring villages surrounded Gornji Magašići, felled a large tree across the only retreat route, and killed eight Serbian civilians, including elderly people and the Popović couple, who were in the basement of their home. Ljubko Ilić was five years old and staying with his aunt in Serbia when his village was attacked. Among those killed was his mother, Ljubinka. “We were in Serbia when we received the news that my mother had been killed and that the village had been burned down. She was 49 years old. I didn’t fully understand what had happened. Earlier, we used to look forward to coming to the village, but later it no longer made sense because everything was burned,” Ljubko says. He says he does not trust the work of the judiciary in BiH because survivors have given statements multiple times, there is evidence of crimes against civilians, yet the BiH Prosecutor’s Office has never filed charges, as it protects the perpetrators. "We believe only in God's justice," Ilić emphasized. The attack on Gornji Magašići was carried out on July 20, 1992, when armed Muslim forces from Srebrenica and surrounding villages entered the undefended village and killed all the civilians, including five members of the Ilić family. They also looted and burned down around twenty Serbian homes. In broad daylight, six women and two elderly men were massacred in their family homes, and the village was looted and set on fire. The oldest victim was 85-year-old Blagoje Popović, and the youngest was a 17-year-old pregnant woman, Ljiljana Ilić. No one has been held accountable or prosecuted for this or any other mass crimes committed against Serbs in the Bratunac municipality. Today’s memorial service and the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the suffering of the village of Gornji Magašići were organized by the Serbian Orthodox Parish of Kravica and the War Veterans’ Organization of Bratunac.