34 YEARS SINCE SUFFERING OF SERBS IN ŽUTICA MARKED

MILIĆI, MAY 21 /SRNA/ - A memorial service was held today in the settlement of Žutica in Milići Municipality for eight Serb soldiers and civilians ambushed by Muslim forces on May 21, 1992, on the Milići–Srebrenica regional road, but due to the inactivity of the judiciary, the families are still waiting for justice.

The head of the municipal War Veterans Organisation Dragutin Đuričić pointed out that half of the family members of those killed did not live to see justice served, highlighting the inactivity of the competent judicial institutions. He noted that there has been no progress at the prosecutor’s office and that 50 percent of the victims’ family members have already died, fearing that the remaining relatives may also never live to find out who killed these people, among whom were two women. "Obrenija worked in a store and was returning home from work, while the remaining six men were providing security at the bauxite mine," Đuričić said. The municipality mayor Marko Savić stressed that it is an obligation to remember the victims until justice is served, emphasizing that they were returning from their work assignments and that civilians were among them. "It is known who did this and how. No one has been prosecuted; it seems there is no justice for Serbs. We will be fighting for proceedings to be initiated. No one is avoiding the fact that all those who committed crimes should be punished, but this is also a crime for which someone must be held accountable," Savić emphasized. Milan Lazarević, the brother of the murdered eighteen-year-old Mićo Lazarević, said that the families come to the site of the killings every year seeking justice, which still has not been served. "They identified the main person responsible for this crime and the man pleaded guilty. However, their judiciary acquitted him of the charges, and he now walks free," Lazarević said. On this day, May 21, 1992, the following people were killed in the settlement of Žutica: Slobodan Zečić /26/, Milenko Kovačević /32/, Mićo Lazarević /18/, Obrenija Ilić /34/, Milja Obradović /54/, Nedeljko Kandić /38/, Mlađen Petković /40/, and Vojislav Šarac /72/.