Croats in Bugojno still searching for 15 people listed as missing

The exchange of prisoners in Bugojno during the Bosnian War, specifically dealing with the conflict between the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) and Bosnian Muslim forces (ARBiH) in 1993-1994, was a significant event involving the release of hundreds of Bosnian Croat prisoners of war interred in the infamous “Stadium Camp”.

The 32nd anniversary of the exchange of Croat prisoners of war was marked in Bugojno Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Thursday. On March 19th 1994, 294 Croatian prisoners held in the camp in Bugojno were exchanged, marking one of the most significant releases of Croat detainees from the area. 294 Bugojno Croats survived eight months of torture in the POW camp run by Bosnian Muslim forces, while another fifteen are still listed as missing. The President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lidija Bradara: "We ask all those who know where the remaining missing Croats from Bugojno are to report it to the relevant associations or their families so that they can be buried with dignity, and we can have a place to pay our respects, just as we pay homage to their shadows here."

"We remember those difficult days and the fate of all those POWs. Those difficult and traumatic moments that the survivors carry inside them. We must never forget that," added Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister, Gordan Grlić Radman.

According to the Bugojno Association of Croatian Prisoners of War, a total of 550 Croats passed through the camp during the war, suffering torture, starvation, and forced labor.

Source: HRT