Minister Grlić Radman attends commemoration of 27th anniversary of Bugojno prisoner exchange

Minister Gordan Grlić Radman, as the envoy of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, attended on Friday a commemoration of the 27th anniversary of Bugojno prisoner exchange and the burial of the remains of four members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO).

March 19 is marked as the Remembrance Day for the Killed, Imprisoned or Missing Bugojno Croats to commemorate the day in 1994 when 294 Croat POWs were liberated from the Stadion (Stadium) camp, held by the Bosnian Army soldiers. During the Croat-Bosniak conflict in Bugojno, an estimated 15,000 local Croats fled the area, about 300 lost their lives and many are still unaccounted for.

Grlić Radman laid a wreath and lit candles at the Memorial for Croat Victims at the Bugojno cemetery and then attended a mass at the Church of St. Anthony of Padua.

'Bosnia and Herzegovina's authorities, if they want to accept European values, should shed light on this crime. The remains of four missing Bugojans have been found. Humanitarian law and all conventions were violated here. The search for the remaining 15 unaccounted-for has to continue as well,' the minister said.

'Their families deserve answers, so they could bury them with dignity and piety,' he added.

Grlić Radman also attended the funeral for four members of the 104^th HVO 'Eugen Kvaternik' brigade, whose remains have recently been unearthed in Rostovo and who had also been POWs at Stadion.