Date of publication: September 2022
Partners: Sarajevo Memorial Center

The siege of Sarajevo, which was the longest siege of a capital city in modern history, began with the erection of barricades and checkpoints, the seizure of military equipment, and the occupation of strategic facilities. The international airport was blocked off by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and suburbs in the east and west of the city were also occupied. There were attacks on the Personnel Training Center for the Republic of BiH’s Ministry of Internal Affairs in Vraca, as well as on the central tram depot and the historic Old Town.

During the siege from May 1992 to November 1995, the Serbian political elite and military forces, beginning with the Sarajevo Romanija Corps, as members of the Joint Criminal Enterprise (JCE), carried out a campaign of deliberate shelling and sniping with the primary purpose of terrorizing the citizens of Sarajevo. In the course of this campaign, thousands of men and women of all ages were killed and severely maimed, including children. Furthermore, this violence left Sarajevans with deep and permanent scars of psychological trauma.

This publication provides a detailed description of the strategic and operational activities of RS political and military structures, based on the facts established by the ICTY and courts of BiH. These activities include the sniping and daily shelling of Sarajevo, and the terrorizing, wounding, and murder of itscitizens. We focus on the crimes committed against Muslims and Croats in the municipalities of Novo Sarajevo, Novi Grad, Ilidža, Vogošća, Ilijaš, Hadžići, Trnovo, and Pale. We identify those who have been convicted of war crimes as of May 2022, and highlight allegations related to two JCE’s undertaken by Serbian political and military forces.