MEMORIAL SERVICE HELD FOR MURDERED SERBS IN RATKOVIĆI

SREBRENICA, JUNE 21 /SRNA/ – A memorial service was held today in the village of Ratkovići near Srebrenica to mark 33 years since the death of 24 Serbs from this village. Wreaths were also laid, and those gathered emphasized the ongoing obstruction by judicial institutions in BiH in prosecuting crimes committed against the Serb people.

Among the murdered Serbs were six elderly and ill women. They were massacred by Muslim forces from Srebrenica and surrounding villages—some were even set on fire. The few surviving Serbs recall that on this day in 1992, at around 4:30 a.m., gunfire, shouting, and banging of metal objects rang out from all sides of the village. They heard cries of "Allahu Akbar," "Catch them alive," and "Slaughter them one by one – save your bullets." The attackers were Muslim neighbors from surrounding villages, led by the Srebrenica commander Naser Orić. Thanks to early morning fog and their familiarity with the terrain, a small number of villagers managed to hide and escape certain death, watching from bushes and makeshift shelters as Muslim soldiers killed their family members and neighbors, looted, and set fire to property. Few survivors are willing to testify about what they saw and heard, as no one has been held accountable for this or other crimes committed against Serbs in the central Podrinje region. Traces of what was once a large village remain—occasional crumbling walls with chimneys standing defiantly, overgrown by trees and brush, a partially restored village cemetery, and a monument above the village erected in memory of the fallen residents. Ratkovići residents say they do not trust BiH’s judicial authorities and stress that only divine justice may catch up with the perpetrators of the crime. Branimir Kojić, president of the Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians of Srebrenica, stated that 33 years have passed and no one has been held accountable for the monstrous crime against Serb civilians in Ratkovići. He noted that during the war, a photo was circulated globally of mother Dobrina Prodanović holding the skull of her son Živan, who was murdered in Ratkovići on this day in 1992. "Along with that photograph, a false narrative was spread to the world, claiming it depicted a Muslim woman holding the severed head of her son, as stated by Western representatives who were present in the region at the time," Kojić explained.