MINIĆ: EXTERMINATION OF SERB PEOPLE FROM WESTERN KRAJINA WAS AGGRESSION'S GOAL

MRKONJIĆ GRAD, OCTOBER 10 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić said that the goal of the aggression committed by the Croatian Army and the so-called Army of BiH against 13 municipalities in Western Krajina in 1995 was the extermination of the Serb people, who were then mercilessly killed, as evidenced by the mass grave in Mrkonjić Grad.

"Serbs were the victims in the last war in BiH, which is proven by these crimes. It is known who trained the brigades that attacked us here and that the Fifth Corps of the so-called Army of BiH attacked refugee convoys," Minić told the press in Mrkonjić Grad, where he attended the commemoration of 30 years since the Croatian-Muslim crime against Serbs in 13 Western Krajina municipalities. He emphasized that it was an unjust struggle in which the Serb people were mercilessly killed, as evidenced by the mass grave in Mrkonjić Grad containing more than 180 victims, along with over 2,000 murdered Serbs and 90 missing persons still being searched for. "Then they call us aggressors?!" Minić said, adding that the scale of these crimes should be seen by the whole world and that every Serb should visit the site of the mass grave. He added that in the area of the 13 Western Krajina municipalities, Serbs fought against three armies, including NATO forces, which supported the aggressors with drones and satellites. Speaking about the trial before the Court of BiH against the wartime commander of the Fifth Corps of the so-called Army of BiH Atif Dudaković, Minić pointed out that the accused, charged with horrific crimes against Serbs, has not appeared in court for six months and justifies his absence with certificates from chess or football clubs. Unlike Dudaković and his 14 fellow executioners, Minić says, Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik has had up to three hearings scheduled in one week before the Court of BiH. "Is that what you call a court? That’s the kind of state union we live in. Then someone says we are the aggressors, genocidal, and those who are destroying BiH," Minić said. He pointed out that in Croatia, for the crimes committed in the Western Krajina municipalities of Republika Srpska in 1995, only five soldiers have been held accountable for the execution of a lieutenant colonel and several captured soldiers of the Republika Srpska Army. "When the offensive started, all our captured and wounded soldiers in Podrašnica were killed," Minić said. He emphasized that, as a member of the Republika Srpska Army, he participated in the battles in that area, in which many of his comrades, friends, and fellow soldiers were killed. Namely, joint forces of the Croatian Army, HVO, and the so-called Army of BiH, supported by NATO, carried out an aggression on 13 Western Krajina municipalities in September and October 1995 - Grahovo, Glamoč, Kupres, Šipovo, Srbobran, Jajce, Ripač, Drvar, Petrovac, Ključ, Krupa na Uni, Sanski Most, and Mrkonjić Grad. According to the Republika Srpska Research Centre of War, War Crimes, and Tracing Missing Persons, during the aggression, 2,214 people of Serb background were killed, 120,000 Serbs were expelled from their centuries-old homes, movable property was looted, while immovable was destroyed. Among the dead were 753 Serb civilians, 149 of whom are still listed as missing, and 1,461 members of the Republika Srpska Army, with 79 still missing. In these municipalities, 41 mass graves containing 1,112 bodies were discovered. The largest mass grave was found at the Orthodox cemetery in Mrkonjić Grad, from which 181 bodies were exhumed.