GRAORAC: PREVENT LINING UP OF FORMER HVO MEMBERS IN MODRAN

BANJA LUKA, MARCH 16 /SRNA/ – The Republika Srpska Organisation of Families of Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians is demanding that the competent institutions of Republika Srpska prevent the lining up of former members of HVO unit announced for March 21 in Modran near Derventa, stating that it represents humiliation and belittling of Serb war victims.

"If necessary, the families of the killed and the missing will physically prevent the lining up of the unit that rampaged across the area of Derventa and Posavina spreading death among their former neighbours," Isidora Graorac, the head of the organization, told SRNA. She emphasized that the organisation is requesting the adoption of a law that would regulate who, where and how a memorial may be erected, noting that Serbs do not have the possibility to do so in the surrounding areas. According to her, no HVO unit can line up on the territory of Republika Srpska, especially not in places where camps for Serbs once existed or at the sites of mass or individual crimes. "The wounds of the families of fallen Serb soldiers and civilians are still painful and bleeding, while those who committed the crimes walk freely and live normal lives," Graorac stressed. She stated that Posavina is soaked in Serb blood, that Derventa is a Serb wound that at the very beginning of the war recorded terrible crimes and detention sites, and that the fate and whereabouts of many Serbs remain unknown. "Those responsible for it, who were killing them, abusing them, raping Serb sisters and mothers, now want to come and parade?" she added. Graorac asked whether the families of murdered Serbs are able to visit the places of suffering and whether members of former units of the Republika Srpska Army are allowed to line up outside Republika Srpska. She says that for years families have been looking at the HVO memorial in Modran outside Derventa, which reminds them not only of the last war but also of the Second World War, when entire Serb-populated villages disappeared, homes were extinguished, and people were killed solely because of their name and the faith to which they belonged. "Such memorials, which undeniably recall those days, have no place in Republika Srpska, therefore we demand protection of the dignity and name of the Serb people and the same approach as others apply. Let us also adopt a law on monuments and memorials in Republika Srpska," Graorac emphasized. The Republika Srpska War Veterans Organisation has called on the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior and other competent authorities to ban the marking of the 34th anniversary of the formation of the 3rd Battalion Modran of the 103rd HVO Brigade on March 21 in Modran near Derventa and to conduct an investigation into the organisation of the event, or, as they stated, they will be forced to prevent the gathering themselves.