Former Visegrad student's father tells how he left city

Emir Haskic left the settlement of Nova Mahala in Visegrad on April 14th, 1992, together with his parents due to the war. He tells how he made the decision for the Balkan Research Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina BIRN BiH after colleagues of Serbian nationality left their jobs as a twenty-six-year-old at the time.

He comes to Gorazde with his father Avdo and his mother Esma, whose citizens were unaware of the danger. He saw his parents for the last time in the city, who decided to return to Visegrad a few days later.

My father was the first bus. Father and Mom. I also entered, and said, Dad, where are you going? He says he hasn't done anything to anyone. Your mom doesn't want to go, but you know how it goes, the woman goes with the man. They left. It was April 18th, according to Emir.

He leaves Gorazde in the direction of Sarajevo but he got in touch with his parents by phone until the connection was broken. In those conversations, his father told him about the situation in Visegrad, how the army was giving them food, but also that they asked him to return to work.

The last conversation, that is, on May 2, they heard each other, and he started crying on my phone. He says: Don t come back, they are killing here. Since then, nothing, says Emir, who came to Sarajevo, where the Serbian army is attacking.

After that, he asked everyone he could about the situation in Visegrad, but he only received the first information in November 1992 when a former neighbor told him that his mother had been taken with several other women, and that they had been killed.

In 2012, the Hague Tribunal sentenced Lukic to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of crimes against humanity committed in Visegrad, including massacres in Bikavac and Pionirska Street.

In December 2019, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH filed a indictment against Lukic, accusing him of crimes against passengers kidnapped in February 1993 at Strpci station in Rudo municipality. After the questioning of Lukic, the last procedural requirements for indictment were met in the capacity of a suspect who is serving the sentence imposed by the Court in The Hague. The indictment was confirmed by the Court of BiH at the beginning of January 2020.

Emir later found out he had different information about his father. In the summer of 1992, he learned from people who were in Visegrad that his father and some other people were led by a certain Mirko Lakic to bury the murdered and that his father was most likely killed when one of the mosques in the city were demolished.

Emir tells us that the only thing he hopes for is that someone who knows the fate of his parents will have a conscience and that he will find out where their remains are. While his hopes are fading, he asks and searches for his parents every day, writes Detektor.