Višegrad
Location of Višegrad in Republika Srpska
Coordinates: 43°47′N 19°17′E / 43.783°N 19.283°E / 43.783; 19.283
Country Bosnia and Herzegovina
Division Republika Srpska
Government
- Mayor Miladin Miličević (SDS)
Area
- Total 48 km2 (18.5 sq mi)
Population (1991)
- Total 21,199
Postal code 73240
Area code(s) (+387) 058
Višegrad (Cyrillic: Вишеград) is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is administratively part of the Republika Srpska entity of BiH. It is on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice.
The town is widely known for the book Bridge on the Drina written by Ivo Andrić, Nobel prize winning author.
The well known bridge on the Drina in Višegrad was built by an Ottoman grand vizier, Mehmed Paša Sokolović in 1571. It still exists, and it is now a tourist attraction, being inscribed in a UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Many travelers come to Višegrad simply to take a walk across the famous bridge.
Bridge on the Drina River at Višegrad.[edit] Bosnian War
Višegrad is one of several towns along the Drina River in close proximity to the Serbian border (then Yugoslavia). According to the census taken before the conflict in 1991 the municipality had a population of 21,199: 62.8% of Bosniak ethnicity, 32.8% Serb and 4.4% classified as others.
The town was strategically important during the conflict. A nearby hydroelectric dam provided electricity and also controlled the level of the Drina River, preventing flooding in areas downstream. The town is situated on the main road connecting Belgrade and Užice in Serbia with Goražde and Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a vital link for the Užice Corps of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) with the Uzamnica camp as well as other strategic locations implicated in the conflict.
On 6 April 1992, JNA units began an artillery bombardment of the town, in particular Bosniak neighbourhoods and nearby Bosniak villages. A group of Bosniak men took several local Serbs hostage and seized control of the hydroelectric dam, threatening to blow it up. One of the men released water from the dam causing flooding to some houses and streets.
Eventually on 12 April 1992, JNA commandos seized the dam. The next day the Užice Corps of the JNA from Užice took control of Višegrad, positioning tanks and heavy artillery around the town. The population that had fled the town during the crisis returned and the climate in the town remained relatively calm and stable during the later part of April and the first two weeks of May.
On 19 May 1992 the JNA Užice Corps officially withdrew from the town and local Serb leaders established the Serbian Municipality of Višegrad, taking control of all municipal government offices. Soon after, local Serbs, police and paramilitaries began one of the most notorious campaigns of ethnic cleansing in the conflict, designed to permanently rid the town of its Bosniak population.
Serb forces attacked and destroyed a number of Bosniak villages. A large number of Bosniak civilians in the town of Višegrad were killed. The Drina River was used to dump many of the bodies of the Bosniak men, women and children who were killed around the town and on the historic Turkish bridge crossing the Drina. Serb forces were implicated in the systematic looting and destruction of Bosniak homes and villages. Both of the town’s mosques were completely destroyed.
Serb soldiers raped many women and beat and terrorised non-Serb civilians. Widespread looting and destruction of non-Serb homes and property took place daily and the two Bosnian Muslim mosques in town were destroyed.
Many of the Bosniaks who were not immediately killed were detained at various locations in the town, as well as the former JNA military barracks at Uzamnica, the Vilina Vlas Hotel and other detention sites in the area. Bosniaks detained at the Uzamnica camp were subjected to inhumane conditions, including regular beatings, torture by Bosnian Serbs and strenuous forced labour.Bosniak prisoners at Vilina Vlas were beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted.
After the Bosnian war was over, and Bosnia was divided in two entities Višegrad is a part of Republic of Srpska. Before the war, 60 percent of Višegrad's 20,000 residents were Bosniak. Today, only a handful of survivors have returned to what is a predominantly Serb town.
[edit] Višegrad massacre
Main article: Višegrad massacre
Bosnian Serb Army and paramilitary forces affiliated with them burned Bosniak civilians alive in houses,slaughtered hundreds of men,women and children and threw them over the famous bridge. On August 5th, survivors of the massacre returned to Visegrad for the burial of 180 bodies exhumed from mass graves. The exhumation lasted for two years and the bodies were found in 19 different mass graves.[5]
Milan Lukić, Sredoje Lukić, Mitar Vasiljević were charged with:[
The murder of hundreds of Bosniaks and other non-Serb civilians, including men, women, children and elderly persons.
The cruel and inhumane treatment of Bosniaks and other non-Serb civilians including severe beatings over an extended period of time.
The unlawful detention or confinement of Bosniaks and other non-Serb civilians under inhumane conditions.
The harassment, humiliation, terrorisation and psychological abuse of Bosniaks and other non-Serb civilians.
The theft and destruction of personal property of Bosniaks and other non-Serb civilians.
Charges of mass rapes of Bosniak women and girls in Višegrad were not approved against the accused because prosecutors failed to request these charges to be included in a timely manner.[6] Cousins Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić were convicted on July 20, 2009 for a 1992 killing spree that included locking Muslims in two houses and burning them alive. At least 119 Muslims, from 2 days old to 75 years, were burned to death. Milan Lukić was sentenced to life in prison Sredoje Lukić to 30 years. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has processed the following for war crimes in Višegrad:
 |
| Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić |
Trial Chamber III today convicted Milan Lukić and Sredoje Lukić, to life and 30 years’ imprisonment respectively, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in eastern Bosnian town of Višegrad during the 1992-1995 conflict.
The two cousins were charged with murder, torture and extermination committed mostly during the early months of the war.
Milan Lukić has been found guilty of persecutions, murder, extermination, cruel treatment, and inhumane acts, as crimes against humanity and war crimes, in relation to six discrete incidents.
He was convicted for the killing of five Muslim civilian men at the Drina river on or about 7 June 1992 and the killing of seven Muslim civilian men at the Varda factory in Višegrad town on or about 10 June 1992. Milan Lukić was also found guilty of the murder of Hajra Korić. He was additionally found guilty of beating Muslim detainees in the Uzamnica detention camp.
In addition Milan Lukić was found responsible for the murder of 59 Muslim women, children and elderly men in a house on Pionirska Street in Višegrad. On 14 June 1992, the victims were locked into one room of the house which was then set on fire. Milan Lukić was found to have placed the explosive device into the room, which set the house ablaze. Milan Lukić shot at people trying to escape from the burning house.
Milan Lukić (Life)Sredoje Lukić (30 years)
Mitar Vasiljević (15 years)
Boban Šimšić (14 years)
Željko Lelek (13 years)
Momir Savić (18 years)
Nenad Tanasković (12 years, 8 years upon appeal.
Novo Rajak (14 years)
http://www.icty.org/
http://www.icty.org/sid/10188
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