LINTA: USTASHAS CARRIED OUT GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS IN KORDUN 84 YEARS AGO

BELGRADE, DECEMBER 22 /SRNA/ – The President of the Association of Serbs from the Region Miodrag Linta has said that Serbia has a national, constitutional, and civilizational obligation to fight for international recognition of the genocide committed against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/, stating that 84 years ago the Ustashas carried out a genocidal crime against 1,446 Serbian civilians in the Kordun region, including 359 children under the age of 15.

Linta said that on December 21, 1941, in Prkos Lasinjski, Dugo Selo Lasinjsko, Stipan, Kirin, Sjeničak, and several other settlements in northeastern Kordun, the Ustashas brutally murdered Serbian civilians, then looted and burned the villages. He stressed that the offensive, during which a smaller number of Roma and their children were also killed, was ordered in mid-December by Ustasha leader Ante Pavelić. "It was then decided to destroy the entire Serbian population across Kordun, with the order that `not one stone be left upon another,` and the Ustasha–Home Guard offensive began early in the morning at 5:00 a.m." Linta noted. He pointed out that the directive to carry out the offensive was issued by the notorious executioner Vjekoslav Maks Luburić, who ordered: "No one is to be spared. Not a single village. Slaughter everyone, children in their cradles and helpless elderly men and women." According to Linta, research by Dr. Dušan Korać shows that during the Ustasha offensive in northern Kordun in late 1941 and early 1942, 2,423 residents, mostly Serbs, were killed. Linta said that Serbia has a national, constitutional, and civilizational obligation to launch a strong political, legal, and diplomatic effort within the international community to secure recognition of the genocide committed against the Serbian people in the NDH, the Association of Serbs from the Region said in a statement. According to Linta, a key prerequisite for this is for the Serbian Parliament to adopt a resolution on the genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Roma in the NDH and to establish a Memorial Center for the Genocide Against Serbs in the NDH. "It is also very important for April 10 to be proclaimed a Day of Remembrance for the Genocide Against Serbs in the NDH. The main reason is the fact that with the establishment of the NDH on April 10, 1941, the implementation of a long-prepared plan for the extermination and destruction of the Serbian people began," Linta stated.