Account of an event · Biljani · July 10, 1992
Biljani, 10 July 1992: A Village Destroyed in a Single Day
Early in the morning of 10 July 1992, members of the 17th Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS and the police attacked the village of Biljani in the Ključ municipality and, in a single day, killed between 258 and 264 Bosniak civilians, according to different sources. The bodies were taken to mass graves, and the crime came to light only after the liberation of Ključ in September 1995. Only company commander Marko Samardžija has been finally convicted in connection with the massacre, and not for the killings but for the unlawful confinement of civilians.
Where and when
Biljani
- Date
- July 10, 1992
- Place
- Ključ, Biljani, Lanište I
- Coordinates
- 44.61° N · 16.67° E
A Village in the Sana Valley
Biljani was a Bosniak village in the Ključ municipality, in the valley of the Sana river in Bosanska krajina. It consisted of a series of hamlets that bore the names of families: Donji Biljani, Brkići, Osmanovići, Domazeti, Džaferagići, Ćehići, Mešani and Jabukovci, as well as Botonjići.
10 July 1992
Early in the morning of 10 July 1992, Serb military and police forces entered Biljani. The attack was led by the 17th Light Infantry Brigade of the VRS, together with reserve and active-duty police. The Third Company of this brigade's Sanički Battalion was commanded by Marko Samardžija.
According to the testimonies of survivors, people were killed in front of the former primary school and the community hall. By evening, men, women, children and elderly people had been killed – between 258 and 264 Bosniak civilians, according to different sources. The village had almost ceased to exist.
The youngest victim was Amila Džaferagić, a baby four months old (three months according to one source), who died in a pit, in the arms of her murdered mother. Among the victims later exhumed from the Lanište I grave were also her four-year-old brother and her mother. The oldest victim was Bećo Ćehić, aged 85.
Botonjići
According to survivors' testimonies recorded by the portal genocid.ba, 57 people from some forty houses were killed in the hamlet of Botonjići. According to the same testimonies, eleven elderly and sick people were burned in a barn, and Behar and Paš Botonjić were burned in their house. Hidajet Botonjić later found and buried the remains of his mother, who had been burned in the barn.
Survivors
According to the same source, about fifty residents survived, mostly those who that morning happened to be in the orchards, in the forest above the village, or abroad.
Šemsudin Džaferagić survived as the only man in his family. According to his testimony, his brother, sister, mother and daughter Amila were killed. "I watched them go to their deaths," he said.
Elvedin Domazet was fifteen years old at the time. He survived, but his father was taken away and killed. Nesima Avdić lost, according to testimonies, her father, mother, brother and paternal uncle. Elvis Bećirević, then ten years old, lost his entire family.
Bodies in Mass Graves
The bodies of those killed were transported by trucks and bulldozers to several mass graves in the territory of the Ključ municipality. By the end of 1992, almost 17,000 non-Serb residents had been forced to leave the Ključ municipality.
The crime came to light only after the Army of the RBiH liberated Ključ in September 1995. In November 1995, the first mass grave, containing 16 victims, was found. From the Lanište I pit, 188 victims were exhumed between 5 October and 15 November 1996. In total, about 220 bodies were exhumed from the Lanište I, Crvena zemlja I and Crvena zemlja II graves, and 34 more graves were found in the vicinity of Biljani.