Memorial services were held in Prijepolje on Feb. 27 marking the 18th anniversary of the abduction of civilians from a train in the town of Strpci. This year, again, the municipal authorities and the Islamic Community in Serbia held separate services.

Members of paramilitary units from Republika Srpska, under the command of Milan Lukic, shot 19 civilians in 1993, who were forced off of a train on the Belgrade-Bar railway. So far, investigators have located the remains of three of the passengers.

Members of the local administration met with the families of nine abducted Bosniacs from Prijepolje and gave them financial aid.

A memorial service was held in the Prijepolje Culture Club by the Islamic Community in Serbia, the Bosniac Cultural Community and the Bosniac National Council, whose mandates have been contested by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights.

Chief mufti of the Islamic Community in Serbia, Muamer Zukorlic, said that the crime that happened in Strpci was just one of a number that were committed against the Bosniacs of Sandzak during the 1990s. He said that all who were pointing their finger at the crime and demand equal rights, were being brutalized by the media.

A service in memory of the abduction and murder of the Bosniaks was also staged in the Montenegrin town of Bijelo Polje.