34 YEARS SINCE CRIME IN FOČA’S JABUKA COMMEMORATED

FOČA, 23 JULY /SRNA/ – The 34th anniversary of the crime in Jabuka, which resulted in the killing of 43 Serb residents at their homes, marking the first mass killing of Foča Serbs during the Defensive-Patriotic War, was commemorated at the Božovac City Cemetery in Foča.

A memorial service was held, wreaths were laid, and candles were lit. During the attack on this area beneath Jahorina Mountain, Muslim forces massacred Serb civilians, mined and completely destroyed an Orthodox church, and burned homes and auxiliary buildings. The criminals showed no mercy even to blind and immobile elderly women, girls, and children. The youngest victim was thirteen-year-old boy Novo Elez. One of the witnesses, Ljubiša Simović, recalled that the Muslim forces killed civilians regardless of their age and brutally abused the victims. "I was an eyewitness and saw everything, from the writing of the letter ‘U’ to the throat slitting and other forms of massacre. When prosecutors ask me whether it was a crime, I answer: isn’t it a crime to kill a civilian, to kill an immobile and blind woman, to burn her in a hut, or to kill a ninety-year-old man? After killing them, did they also have to continue abusing them?" Simović said. For years neglected by judicial institutions, the Jabuka case is now facing an increasingly smaller number of surviving witnesses. Simović stated that the inefficiency and slow pace of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH have made the process of establishing the truth more difficult, while, according to him, the failure of some witnesses to respond to summonses has further delayed the path to justice. "What are we afraid of, what are we ashamed of? We are not saying anything that did not happen; we are only telling the truth. I appeal to everyone who is summoned by SIPA or the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH to respond and tell as much as they know about what happened that day, to tell the truth," Simović said. He added that it is encouraging that the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has questioned a larger number of people connected with the commission of the crime. Neđo Mastilo, who lost his brother, uncles, relatives, friends, and neighbours in Jabuka, has also been waiting for a judicial conclusion to the case for years. "Something is being done, but slowly. Perpetrators are dying, witnesses are dying. In the end there may be no one left to tell the truth. Among the perpetrators there are also those who even boast through the media that they took part in the operation in Jabuka. The Prosecutor's Office should look into this more closely, determine who these people are, and what they did," Mastilo said. After the war, Jabuka became part of the FBiH, and the remaining Serb population was forced to leave their homes. The remains of those killed from Jabuka were then transferred to the Božovac City Cemetery in Foča. A memorial service for the murdered residents of Jabuka will also be held on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, 19 August, at the monument in the courtyard of the restored church.