NO ONE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE KILLED SERBS OF BJELOVAC AND OTHER PLACES IN PODRINJE

BRATUNAC, DECEMBER 14 /SRNA/ – A memorial service was held today in the churchyard of the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah in the Bratunac village of Bjelovac for 109 murdered Serbs from this village and the neighbouring villages of Sikirić and Loznička Rijeka, 68 of whom were massacred by members of Muslim units from Srebrenica on this day in 1992.

It was stated at today’s gathering that there can be no reconciliation or coexistence in BiH until the perpetrators of numerous monstrous crimes against the Serb people are held accountable. On this day in 1992, early in the morning, strong Muslim forces from Srebrenica and surrounding villages, under the command of Naser Orić, entered these three villages in the Podrinje region, killing everyone they encountered and looting and burning Serb-owned property. The youngest victims were fourteen-year-old Slobodan Petrović and fifteen-year-old Čedo Miladinović, while the oldest was eighty-eight-year-old Zlata Jovanović. Elderly woman Božana Ostojić disappeared and has still not been found. Families of the victims say they do not trust representatives of the international community, who for decades have done nothing to prosecute the perpetrators of monstrous crimes committed against Serbs. As they stated, the judiciary of BiH does not even conceal its bias; since its establishment it has obstructed cases related to the suffering of Serbs and has failed to bring indictments for crimes against Serbs. Relatives of the killed ask what the institutions are doing and what evidence is missing to file an indictment for the murder of 68 civilians from this village in a single day, when it is known who commanded, who led the attack on the village, and who the perpetrators were. On December 14, 1992, Brano Vučetić, who was only nine years old, was taken from Bjelovac into captivity in Srebrenica along with a group of women and children. On the same day, his father and older brother, who was also a minor, were killed. “We still have not seen justice - neither I nor my neighbours whose family members were killed. That is why we must keep reminding others in order to avoid the crime being both forgotten or repeated,” Vučetić said. He emphasized that the Court of BiH convicts only Serbs. “Serbs were killed here, the civilians in their own homes and yards. We did not attack anyone. We were sleeping in our homes. Unfortunately, for the last time, because everything was looted, set on fire, and burned down,” Vučetić recalled. After 56 days of torture, interrogation, and starvation, Brano was exchanged together with Mira Filipović and her children, three-year-old Olja and seven-month-old Nemanja. On that fateful day, Slavka Matić lost everything - her daughters Snježana /27/ and Gordana /24/, and her husband Radivoje. Their house and property were burned down. “They killed everyone I had - my two daughters and my husband. On the doorstep of our house. I have no one left. I went early to light a fire in the nearby school. My husband and daughters stayed behind sleeping. Gunfire erupted from all sides, and at 10:00 a.m. I learned that my family had been killed and that I was left alone,” the elderly woman recounted.