MINIĆ: PRESERVING TRUTH ABOUT CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST SERB PEOPLE IS OUR SACRED DUTY

MRKONJIĆ GRAD, OCTOBER 10 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić has stated today in Mrkonjić Grad that the aggression against the western Krajina municipalities was part of a criminal plan that also involved NATO.

"Everything here was done with the aim of making us disappear from this area. Mrkonjić Grad embodies rising from the ashes, a symbol of resurrection. What hurts us most are our missing victims, whom we cannot honour in accordance with our religious customs," Minić said at the commemoration marking the 31st anniversary of crimes committed against more than 2,000 Serbs from the western Krajina municipalities by Croatian and Muslim forces. Minić stressed that, in this case, justice was not merely slow but excessively slow, questioning whether it could ever have been expected from the judiciary in BIh or at The Hague. "There are video recordings showing who carried the sign bearing the name Mrkonjić Grad here. There are people who boast about what they did here, there are recordings of our only surviving soldiers, whose fellow soldiers were all killed here," Minić said. He added that Republika Srpska could not accept the double standard under which Serbs are constantly labelled, while no one is held accountable for crimes committed against them. "Whose victims are these? Whose sons, brothers, and fathers are they?" Minić asked. Minić emphasized that the Republika Srpska institutions have a duty to commemorate such important dates in its history. "It is our responsibility to talk about this and explain it to our children, while the institutions must strengthen the status and rights of war veterans. We will make it our sacred duty to ensure that these events are written about, spoken about, and that the truth is known," Minić declared. Minić stressed that the Serb people would eventually receive justice and that the international reach Republika Srpska had achieved was very important for making the truth known. The commemoration is organised by the Republika Srpska Government Committee nurturing the traditions of liberation wars, the Ministry of Labour, War Veterans and Disabled Persons Protection of Republika Srpska announced. During the agrassion against 13 municipalities in western Krajina, the armed forces of Croatia, the Croatian Defence Council /HVO/, and the so-called Army of BiH expelled 120,000 Serbs from their centuries-old homes. No one has yet been held accountable for the crimes committed. The largest mass grave was discovered in the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjić Grad, from which 181 bodies were exhumed. Among the 2,214 people killed were 753 Serb civilians, 149 of whom are listed as missing, as well as 1,461 members of the Republika Srpska Army, 79 of whom are still listed as missing.