COURT AND PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN AT EXECUTION SITE FOR SERBS

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 19 /SRNA/ – The advisor to the Serb member of the BiH Presidency Boško Tomić supported the announced initiative of the Association of Republika Srpska Prison Camp Detainees to move the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH from the site of the infamous Viktor Bubanj prison camp for Serbs in Sarajevo, emphasizing that these institutions should never have been at a site where Serbs suffered.

"This is a place where Serbs were imprisoned, tortured, and killed during the previous war. Out of respect for those victims, another location could have been found," Tomić told SRNA. According to him, the former Yugoslav People's Army /JNA/ barracks Viktor Bubanj, where the BiH Court and Prosecutor's Office are currently located, was a prison camp during the war for Serbs who remained in Sarajevo, believing that their Bosniak neighbours would not cause them any problems and that they could live normally. "Unfortunately, many of them ended up in Viktor Bubanj, where they were beaten, tortured, and some never made it out alive," Tomić said. He added that he had the opportunity to speak with some of the Serb camp survivors about what they went through in Viktor Bubanj. "It was painful to listen to, let alone survive all of that," Tomić concluded. The Association of Prison Camp Detainees of Republika Srpska announced yesterday that it would initiate the relocation of the Prosecutor's Office and the Court of BiH from the infamous Viktor Bubanj prson camp. Around 5,000 Serbs passed through this camp, approximately 500 of whom were killed, but no one has yet been held accountable for these crimes. The authorities of the FBiH prevented the Association of Republika Srpska Prison Camp Detainees from placing a memorial plaque at this location on September 19, 2003, to commemorate the suffering of Serbs. Additionally, they did not allow Serb prison camp survivors to place memorial plaques at other sites where Serbs were being killed, including Kazane, Dobrovoljačka Street, the Tuzla Cnvoy, Zlatište above Sarajevo, and other locations.