One Day, Two Massacres: Remembering Bosnia’s Ahmici and Trusina Atrocities

At first sight, the village of Ahmici, near Vitez in the Lasva Valley in central Bosnia, doesn't show any signs that a terrible crime was committed here 30 years ago.

The houses in the village have been renovated since the war, and a memorial board inscribed with the names of the dead is the first visible reminder of the murders of 116 civilians who were killed here on April 16, 1993 by the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, the Bosnian Croat wartime force.

Ahmici resident Hazrudin Bilic is aggrieved that none of his Croat neighbours have expressed sympathy for what happened that day. "Not one," he said. "It bothers me now, 30 years later."

On the same day, almost 100 kilometres away in the village of Trusina, near Konjic, Bosnian Army troops killed 15 civilians and seven Croat soldiers who had surrendered. In Trusina, most of the Croats' former houses no longer exist.

"The entire area was destroyed," said Bosiljka Mijic, who lost her parents on that day and no longer lives in the village.

'It can never be erased from memory'

Huso Ahmic in front of the memorial to the victims in Ahmici. Photo: BIRN.

Huso Ahmic's parents were also killed on April 16, 1993, and their bodies were then burned inside their family home in Ahmici.

"Many years have passed, but the memories are fresh. When I close my eyes, I see the path I took to get to the house that morning and it can never be erased from memory," he said while showing the names of his parents Dzemal and Rasma, as well as other family members, on the village memorial board.

That morning, Ahmic was in the upper part of the village, from where he could see the houses being set on fire. In the evening, he said local residents started to...