Account of an event · Sanski Most · September 18, 1995 – September 22, 1995
The Last Days of Arkan's Men in Sanski Most: The Sanus Hotel, the Garage in Trnova and the Mass Grave in Sasina
In September 1995, a few weeks before the end of the war, as Serb forces were withdrawing from Sanski Most, members of the Serbian Volunteer Guard detained dozens of Bosniak civilians in the boiler room of the Sanus hotel, and then killed eleven men in Trnova and 65 people in Sasina. To date, none of the direct perpetrators has been punished; only Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, heads of the State Security Service of Serbia, have been finally convicted.
Where and when
Sanski Most
- Date
- September 18, 1995 – September 22, 1995
- Place
- Hotel Sanus, Trnova, Sasina, Sanski Most
- Coordinates
- 44.77° N · 16.67° E
The End of the War and the Withdrawal from Sanski Most
In September and October 1995, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croatian Army conducted an offensive in Bosanska krajina, and Serb forces withdrew from Sanski Most. In those last weeks of the war, the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG), known as "Arkan's Tigers", carried out the last wave of killings of Bosniak civilians in this municipality. According to the findings of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), the SDG was paid by the State Security Service of Serbia.
The Boiler Room of the Sanus Hotel
Around 15 September 1995, the SDG set up its headquarters in the Sanus hotel in Sanski Most. Between 18 and 21 September, about thirty men and one woman were detained in the hotel's boiler room, a space of about five square metres. At least two of the detainees died in that space.
The Garage in Trnova
Around 20 September, twelve men were driven to the village of Trnova and shot in a room in a garage. Eleven were killed, among them Mehmed Šehić, Derviš Šehić and Safet Šehić. The twelfth, severely wounded, survived. He later testified as a protected witness before the court in The Hague: in 2003 in the proceedings against Slobodan Milošević, and in 2011 and 2018 in the proceedings against Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović.
The Bus and the Massacre in Sasina
Around 21 September, about 67 men and one woman from Sanski Most, Šehovci and Pobriježje were loaded onto a bus in front of the Sanus hotel. According to the indictment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the detained woman was raped on the bus. According to the HLC, the woman killed in Sasina had previously been raped. Her identity has not been confirmed.
The detainees were driven to the village of Sasina, where 65 people were killed. Two survived. In the indictment, 63 victims are listed by name, while two of the murdered men remained unidentified. The youngest victim was Besim Talić, born in 1978, who was 16 or 17 years old at the time of the killing.
The sources differ on the exact date: according to the indictment, the killings in Sasina took place around 21 September, while the 2021 judgement states 19, 21 or 22 September 1995.
At the same time, from 21 to 25 September, some thirty-five more men were detained in the boiler room of the Sanus hotel.
Exhumation
The mass grave in Sasina was exhumed from 18 to 24 July 1996. 65 bodies were recovered from it.
Indictment, Judgements and Impunity
On 30 September 1997, the ICTY confirmed the indictment against Željko Ražnatović "Arkan", commander of the SDG. The indictment covers the detention in the Sanus hotel, the killings in Trnova and Sasina, and rape. Ražnatović was killed on 15 January 2000 in Belgrade and was never tried.