Višegrad marks 34th anniversary of Bikavac 'living bonfire' war crime

Officials in Višegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, commemorated the 34th anniversary of the Bikavac "living bonfire" where more than 70 Bosniak civilians—mostly women, children and the elderly—were forced into the house of Meha Aljić, shot at, bombed and set ablaze by a paramilitary formation led by Milan Lukić. Only one person, Zehra Turjačanin, survived. The ceremony included the laying of flowers and remarks by Bakira Hasečić, president of the Association "Woman Victim of War," who recalled the 2016 exhumation that yielded only a few burned bones. She said, “Unfortunately, not a single bone has been found to date. Višegrad is silent and I am very sorry for that.” According to the Institute for the Missing Persons of BiH, 467 individuals are still being searched for in the Višegrad area, while 453 have been identified. The Hague Tribunal sentenced Lukić to life imprisonment for this and other crimes, but he remains the sole convict for the Bikavac atrocity despite evidence of wider participation.