Account of an event · Mostar · June 13, 1992 – June 14, 1992
Uborak and Sutina: The Shooting of 114 Civilians from Mostar in June 1992
On the night of 13 to 14 June 1992, as Serb forces were withdrawing from Mostar, Bosniak and Croat civilians who had been taken from their homes and shelters were killed. According to the association of victims' families and the media, 114 bodies were exhumed, 88 at the Uborak city landfill and 26 near the Sutina cemetery, while the ICTY judicially established that at least 40 and at least seven people were killed, respectively. More than three decades later, no one has been indicted or convicted for these crimes.
Where and when
Mostar
- Date
- June 13, 1992 – June 14, 1992
- Place
- Sjeverni logor, Mostar, Vrapčići, Uborak, Sutina
- Coordinates
- 43.34° N · 17.81° E
The Withdrawal of the JNA from Mostar
After two months of shelling of Mostar, in the spring of 1992, JNA and VRS forces began to withdraw from the city. Operation "Šakal" began on 7 June 1992, and Croat forces reached Mostar on 11 June.
The Abduction and Detention of Civilians
In the days of the withdrawal, Serb forces and paramilitary units took Bosniak and Croat civilians from their homes and shelters in the Mostar neighbourhoods of Zalik, Bejrut, Vrapčići and Bijelo Polje. Men and young men were taken, but also entire parts of families.
From 13 June 1992, dozens of civilians were held in the changing rooms of the FK Lokomotiva football stadium in Vrapčići, where they were tortured and subjected to cruel treatment. The number of detainees at the stadium rose from 37 to 90 within six days. According to N1 and FENA, captured civilians were also beaten and tortured in the JNA barracks Sjeverni logor.
The Night of 13 to 14 June 1992
At about 22:30 on 13 June, around 20 detainees were loaded into a white van and shot. During the night of 13 to 14 June 1992, 88 civilians were killed at the Uborak city landfill, and 26 were shot near the Sutina city cemetery. According to the association of victims' families and the media, a total of 114 civilians, Bosniaks and Croats from Mostar, were killed. The president of the Association of Families of the Victims of Uborak and Sutina, Adnin Hasić, sums it up in these words: "114 innocent citizens of Mostar were shot."
In the case against Vojislav Šešelj, the ICTY (the Hague Tribunal) accepted as established facts that the Serb Territorial Defence (TO) and volunteers of the Serbian Radical Party, the so-called "šešeljevci", killed at least 40 civilians, mostly Bosniaks and one Croat, at the Uborak landfill in mid-June 1992. According to the same findings, the Serb TO and paramilitary forces killed at least seven civilians in June 1992 in the mortuary at the Sutina cemetery, while more than 20 detainees were abused and tortured there.
The Survivors
A few of the detainees managed to survive. Redžep Karišik broke his handcuffs and escaped from the administrative building of the Sutina cemetery; he later testified before the ICTY in the proceedings against Šešelj. Admir Boloban survived the shooting hidden in the bushes and afterwards informed the police.
Exhumations
26 bodies were exhumed from a pit by the Neretva, about 150 metres from the Sutina cemetery. Sources give different dates for this exhumation: according to Detektor, the bodies were recovered on 16 June 1992, and according to Radio Free Europe, on 25 June 1992. According to the association of families and the media, the grave in Sutina is considered the first mass grave discovered in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the Uborak landfill, 88 bodies were exhumed on 28 August 1992.