"Meka brda", Kalinovik

Location: Kalinovik

Importance of the locality:

On 5 August 1992, on approval from the Kalinovik Tactical Group Command and Chief of SJB Kalinovik, 12 captured civilians were handed over to Pero Elez and other unidentified soldiers of the “Serb Armed Forces” for transportation to KPD Foča. The prisoners were: Bičo Salko, Hatić Ismet, Karaman
Fikret, Karaman Mirsad, Kurtović Salko, Suljić Safet, Suljić Hasan, Mušanović Mustafa, Dudo Vehbija, Pločo Šaban, Sačić Meša and Hadžić Edin. The soldiers loaded the captured civilians onto a FAP truck and took them away in the direction of "Meka brda" where they killed them. The empty truck was returned to the Gunpowder Warehouse. After the war, the bodies of the killed civilians were exhumed and identified, apart from those of Suljić Hasan and Mušanović Mustafa, who are still counted as missing. Later that same day, the same soldiers took Pervan Nedžib, Pervan Zijo and Sačić Muzafer from the Gunpowder Warehouse camp and transported them in the direction of Kalinovik, after which these civilians have been counted as missing.

Entity: Republika Srpska

Ethnic group: Bosniaks

Area that victims came from: Kalinovik and surrounding villages, some of the captured civilians were from Trnovo and Foča.

Responsibility: VRS, RS Police

Court trials:

For crimes committed in the area of Kalinovik, the Court of BiH convicted Ratko Bundalo, sentencing him to 19 years in prison, while Neđo Zeljaj was sentenced to 15, Novica Tripković to 8 and Đorđislav Aškraba to 7 years in prison for crimes against the civilian population of the Kalinovik area.

For war crimes committed in the Kalinovik area, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Momčilo Krajišnik, the wartime speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Biljana Plavšić, wartime member of the Presidency of Republika Srpska, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while Ratko Mladić, the wartime Commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, was sentenced to life in prison.
For crimes committed in Kalinovik and Foča, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted the commander of the special volunteer unit Dragoslav Kunarac Žaga and sentenced him to 28 years in prison.

The High Court in Belgrade sentenced Dalibor Krstović to 9 years in prison for crimes against the civilian population committed in Kalinovik.

Commemorations: Every year on 25 June, Istina-Kalinovik ‘92, the association of families of missing persons from the Kalinovik Municipality, visits former detention facilities and sites of execution to mark the Day of Memory commemorating killed Bosniaks of Kalinovik and the surrounding area.

Data source: ICTY, Court of BiH, High Court in Belgrade

Marked and photographed: 28.10.2023

Map:

Updated: 13.12.2023