DODIK: SIJEKOVAC - PLACE WHERE INNOCENT SERBS’ BLOOD ANNOUNCED THE HELL OF CIVIL WAR IN BiH

BANJA LUKA, MARCH 25 /SRNA/ – The crime against innocent Serbs in Sijekovac was not an incident, but another deliberate bloody prelude to the civil war in BiH that had long begun in Muslim minds, sending a message to the Serb people that there would be no peace or security for them in such a BiH, President Milorad Dodik emphasized.

"Sijekovac is not just a geographical point on the map, but a wound that still bleeds today in the collective memory of the Serb people. It is a place where, in one tragic moment, youth was violently stopped, joy was interrupted, and the future of those who only wanted to live peacefully in their homes was destroyed. On March 26, 1992, innocent Serb civilians were killed, both young and elderly, the people who carried no weapons, only their names, their family names and the belief that reason would prevail over the hatred of their former neighbours," Dodik told SRNA on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the incursion of regular Croatian forces and Muslim-Croat paramilitary units into the Serb-populted village of Sijekovac and the killing of its residents. He stressed that there are dates that are not marked only with wreaths, but with grief passed down from generation to generation, and March 26 is one of those dark days in Sijekovac, a Serb village that still stands today as a silent witness to terrible injustice and the first major suffering of our people even before the civil war in BiH, which gives this crime even greater weight. "Today and forever we will remember the Zečević, Milošević, Radanović, Trifunović and all other families whose blood soaked the Posavina soil, because their sacrifice reminds us that peace has no price, but also that truth, no matter how long suppressed, must remain the foundation of our survival," Dodik emphasized. Dodik said that the killing of a Serb wedding guest and the burning of the Serb flag at Sarajevo’s Baščaršija on March 1, 1992, as well as the crime against Serbs in Sijekovac on March 26, 1992, are among the most painful wounds in modern history of Serb people, and that these two terrible crimes marked the beginning of the war and the bloody breakup of BiH. "These were moments when the silence of ordinary, seemingly peaceful spring days was brutally interrupted by the cries of innocent Serbs. In Sarajevo, the father of the groom was killed during a wedding celebration, in Sijekovac fathers, sons and brothers were killed simply because they were Serbs. While families mourned their loved ones, the world remained silent, turning a blind eye and pretending to be deaf while Serbs were treacherously killed simply because they were Serbs," Dodik stressed. Today, when we remember Sijekovac, President Dodik added, we must not allow the victims to be forgotten or relativized. "We owe them truth, remembrance and the determination that such crimes never happen again, because a people who forget their victims risk seeing history repeat itself. That is why Sijekovac, Sarajevo, Podrinje, Kozara, Jasenovac, Stari Brod and Herzegovina oblige us to unity, to the preservation of Republika Srpska and to the struggle for justice that has never been satisfied. It is our duty to remember, to speak the truth and to ensure that such evil never happens again," Dodik said. He pointed out that almost every day of the year marks a date when Serb pain spoke out while the humanity of the enemy fell silent, therefore eternal glory and gratitude should be given to all fallen compatriots who are not forgotten, because forgetting would be a new sin toward those who gave everything for their homeland, Republika Srpska. "But we must know that remembering does not mean merely listing the names of the victims, but preserving the warmth of their voices, the shine in their eyes and the dreams they did not have time to fulfill. It is our duty to ensure that their sacrifice does not fall into oblivion, because as long as we mention them and gather in their memory, they live through us. From this pain must arise the strength to build our Republika Srpska in which no mother or sister will ever again have to cry and wear a black headscarf," Dodik said. On March 26, 1992, the Croatian Army and the HOS members, together with local Muslim-Croat paramilitary units, carried out an armed attack on the Serb civilians of the suburban settlement of Sijekovac near the then Bosanski Brod. On that occasion they killed nine Serbs, the members of the Zečević, Milošević, Trifunović and Radanović families. The youngest victim was 17 and the oldest 72 years old. The aggressor also burned and destroyed 15 houses and an Orthodox church. Only one person has been finally convicted for the Sijekovac crime.