NUŽDIĆ: A MESSAGE MUST BE SENT TO THE WORLD ABOUT UNPUNISHED CRIMES AGAINST SERBS IN BiH

BELGRADE, December 18 /SRNA/ - Director of the Republika Srpska Center for Research on War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons Viktor Nuždić today appealed to members of the diplomatic corps in Serbia to ensure that a message is sent to the world that no one has been held accountable for the killings of nearly 35,000 Serbs in BiH, including 400 children.

He stressed that Serbs endured the worst suffering and torture, adding that it is the duty of institutions to present to the public what happened, since the judiciary is unwilling to punish those responsible. Speaking at the promotion of the book "Our Testimony Two - Women Victims of War from Republika Srpska 1992-1995" in Belgrade, Nuždić underlined that reconciliation is impossible until the reality is acknowledged that no one has been convicted for the nearly 35,000 Serbs killed in BiH, that there are no accountable individuals for more than 2,000 murdered Serb women and 400 Serb children. "I cannot accept that no one is responsible for this," Nuždić said, recalling that the Court of BiH is located on a site that once served as a place of detention and torture for Serbs. He asked who is responsible for the killing of 18-month-old Milutin Tešanović in Ledići, whose head was crushed and who was left to die, or for the case of young Danka Tanović, who was wounded and left to bleed to death in the middle of winter, as well as for numerous similar cases and for the abuse and rape of thousands of Serb women. Nuždić said that the Court of BiH has so far convicted only 13 percent of those sentenced for crimes in BiH for crimes committed against Serbs. He recalled that the first Serb victim was Anka Zec, who was killed in Croatian shelling of Gradiška, while the first victim directly linked to the war in BiH was Nikola Gardović, a Serb wedding guest killed on the streets of Sarajevo. "The first mass crime in BiH was committed by the regular Croatian army against Serbs in the village of Sijekovac on March 26, 1992," Nuždić said. He added that the Hague Tribunal was established with the intention of bringing reconciliation and prosecuting all those who committed crimes, but that this did not happen. President of the Association of Women Victims of War of Republika Srpska Božica Živković Rajilić appealed to foreign diplomats to point out that Serbs were also victims. Rajilić said that 2,660 Serb women were killed on their doorsteps in BiH, while nearly 3,000 were raped. She noted that many perpetrators of crimes against Serbs in BiH have not been prosecuted, even though evidence and living witnesses exist, stressing that she will not stop speaking the truth about Serb suffering as long as she lives. Rajilić, who endured severe abuse during the war in a camp, said that no one ever asked her who the people were who tortured her. She added that among the members of the association she leads there are 20 Croat women and 30 Muslim women who were married to Serbs. Gordana Botić, a member of the Association of Women Victims of War of Republika Srpska whose testimony is included in the book, said she would never be able to recognize the Court of BiH, which is located in the former "Viktor Bubanj" camp in Sarajevo where she was abused. "Representatives of the Court of BiH know the people who took us away, beat and mistreated us, yet no one has ever been held accountable," Botić said, adding that she does not dare go to Sarajevo because of threats she received after the war from her abusers. The book is a collection of 12 authentic testimonies of women victims of the war conflict in BiH, created as a joint project of the Association of Women Victims of War of Republika Srpska, the Republika Srpska Center for Research on War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons, the Archives of Vojvodina, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia. This monograph contains personal testimonies of women who endured severe suffering during the Defensive-Patriotic War in BiH. The first monograph, "Our Testimony - Testimonies of Women Victims of War in Republika Srpska 1992-1995," was published in 2016 and includes testimonies of 15 abused women.