Amila, the youngest victim of the Biljani massacre

Birth in Biljani

Amila was born in Biljani, a village in the municipality of Ključ in Bosanska krajina. According to genocid.ba, which cites the autopsy report, her date of birth was 29 February 1992. Her surname is given in two ways in the sources: genocid.ba and Radio Free Europe (RFE) write Džaferagić, while the news agency FENA in 2026 gives it as Amila Džaferović. The statements about her age also differ: according to RFE she was four months old, according to FENA five months.

10 July 1992

On 10 July 1992, Serb forces killed 258 Bosniak civilians in Biljani. According to RFE, the attack was led by the 17. laka pješadijska brigada VRS together with the active and reserve police of the public security station Ključ.

The men were separated from the women and children, detained in the school in Biljani and killed in groups. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina established that at least 144 men were killed.

Amila was the youngest victim of the massacre. According to RFE and Klix.ba, she died in a pit, in the embrace of her murdered mother, with a bottle of milk.

Graves and the autopsy report

The bodies of those killed in Biljani ended up in pits and mass graves. Mortal remains were found in five mass graves, among them Lanište I and Crvena zemlja I and II. According to RFE, in 2016 the search was still continuing for eight victims.

According to genocid.ba, Amila's body was supposed to have disappeared in a natural pit beneath Grmeč above Ključ. The sources do not state in exactly which grave or pit her body was found, nor when the exhumation and identification were carried out.

According to the autopsy report cited by genocid.ba, Amila is listed as body number 172. She was wearing a white baby shirt, grey underpants, white underwear and socks, and a diaper, and two pacifiers were found with the body. As the cause of death, the report, according to genocid.ba, states a gunshot wound to the head.

Court proceedings

On 3 November 2006, the Court of BiH at first instance sentenced Marko Samardžija, commander of the 3rd company of the Sanski battalion, to 26 years in prison for crimes against humanity in Biljani. The Appellate Panel of the Court of BiH overturned that verdict in 2007 and ordered a retrial.

On 15 October 2008, the Appellate Panel finally sentenced Marko Samardžija to seven years in prison for the crime against humanity of unlawful deprivation of liberty. He was acquitted of the charge of aiding in the killings.

According to FENA, even in 2026 only one person has been convicted for the massacre in Biljani.