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The
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia took 110 students,
young people and activists to the ceremony "Dusko Kondor" in
Sarajevo on April 6, 2012. The great majority of young people from
Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Krusevac, Sabac and other towns in
Serbia had the opportunity to visit the capital of
Bosnia-Herzegovina for the first time ever.
The ceremony "Dusko Kondor" Sarajevo-based GARIWO
NGO organizes each April 6 to mark the Sarajevo Day is also an
occasion to recognize humanity and civic courage individuals have
demonstrated in hard times. This year laureates were Nedeljko
/Nedjo/ Galic from Ljubusko (posthumous), Matija Stevic from Brcko
and Budimir /Budo/ Koprivica from Mostar. |
The award for affirmation of civic courage was bestowed on Viktor
Ivancic, journalist from Split, Croatia. On the 20th anniversary of
the siege of Sarajevo a special, collective award went to citizens
"who lived and died, and were killed in Sarajevo during the siege of
the town from April 6, 1992 till February 29, 1996."
Young people from Serbia also had the opportunity
to attend a number of manifestations marking two decades since the
onset of the siege. "Red Line" or 11,541 red chairs placed along
Tito Street to symbolize the killed citizens of Sarajevo left the
strongest impression on them. "That was a painful experience indeed,
especially seeing all those tiny chairs symbolizing killed children.
A long line of chairs. We felt heartache when we reached the end of
the line at the Eternal Flame and read the inscription. What a
contrast," said Asja, activists of the Helsinki Committee.
Asked what impressed her the most in Sarajevo,
Dunja, secondary school student from Belgrade, replied, "People
fascinated me the most. They did not react the way we did. They are
facing all this every single day. And all of them must have lost
someone dear." |