The commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the destruction of Vukovar's Borovo Naselje neighbourhood in the 1991-95 Homeland War began on Saturday near the remains of the former Borovo Commerce factory, with a programme called "Borovo Naselje's Sacrifice for the Homeland".
During the military aggression of the former Yugoslav army and Serb militia on the eastern town of Vukovar in 1991, the building's basement served as the town's war hospital.
According to figures provided by victims' associations, on the day of the occupation, 19 November 1991, 51 people were killed in Borovo Naselje. A total of 176 soldiers and civilians were killed during the three-month siege of the neighbourhood.
When the former Yugoslav army and the Serb militia entered Vukovar, there were about 800 wounded soldiers and civilians in the building's basement, of whom about 200 gravely.
After Borovo Naselje was occupied, 115 people were taken prisoner and led away from Borovo Commerce. Forty-eight remain unaccounted for.
In memory of the Croatian soldiers and civilians killed in Borovo Naselje, many delegations laid wreaths and lit candles by a memorial plaque on Borovo Commerce's remains. Mass for the dead and the missing will be celebrated a local priest.
This year too, activists of two nongovernmental organisations -- "Women in Black" and "Humanitarian Law Fund" from Belgrade paid their respect to the victims of Borovo Naselje.
