ŽUPLJANIN: HVO ASSEMBLY NEAR DERVENTA UNACCEPTABLE

BANJA LUKA, MARCH 12 /SRNA/ – The Organization of Officers of the Republika Srpska Army /RSA/ has called on the competent institutions of Republika Srpska not to allow the announced gathering of uniformed former members of the HVO in Modran near Derventa on March 21, noting that any gathering of enemy military units is unacceptable to the Serb people.

"If they fail to do so, they will force Serb patriots to organize themselves and prevent provocation and revelry accompanied by the well-known Ustasha folklore", the organization's president Slobodan Župljanin told SRNA. He reminded that the Third Battalion Modran of the 103rd HVO Brigade is considered hostile by the Serb people because during the last war it committed various crimes against Serb civilians, organized camps for Serbs, and imposed movement restrictions and barricades. "Serbs were forcibly taken to dig trenches, after which eight Serb camp prisoners were killed on June 19, 1992, which constitutes a crime defined by international conventions. Any gathering, formation, or assembly of enemy military units that goes beyond a dignified commemoration and religious service is unacceptable to us," Župljanin emphasized. Župljanin said it is unbelievable that Croatian authorities do not allow Serb officials to visit Jasenovac to pay tribute to the victims of Ustasha terror, while former HVO members would gather and line up in the middle of Republika Srpska.