VUKELIĆ: CRIMES AGAINST SERBS IN PODRINJE COMMITTED CONTINUOUSLY FROM THE BEGINNING OF WAR

BELGRADE, JULY 4 /SRNA/ – Crimes against Serbs in the Central Podrinje were committed continuously from the very beginning of the war in the former AVNOJ-defined BiH, therefore Serbia and Republika Srpska should make joint efforts to ensure that the truth about the suffering of the Serbs of this region reaches people around the world, Nikola Vukelić, State Secretary at Serbia's Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Policy, told SRNA.

He noted that crimes against Serb civilians had been committed as early as 1992, when Serb-populated villages were selectively attacked, thus sending the message to Serbs that there was no future for them in such a BiH. Vukelić stressed that horrific massacres had been carried out, adding that it was particularly monstrous that the crimes were committed against the helpless and the elderly, most tragically, against completely innocent children. "So, when we analyze the events in Srebrenica in 1995, we must also take into account the crimes committed against Serbs in that area, which took place during the three years before the operation by Serb forces in Srebrenica began," Vukelić said. It is important, he added, to point out the selectivity of international justice, as only few people had been convicted for the killing of more than 3,200 Serbs, receiving lenient sentences. "The height of hypocrisy and the legal farce of international institutions was the acquittal of Naser Orić, who was directly responsible for those crimes and personally participated in some of them," Vukelić said. Although more than 30 years have passed and, unfortunately, the truth remains largely concealed, Vukelić said that Serbia and Republika Srpska should continue working together to ensure that this truth reaches those willing to hear it, which is the free-thinking part of the international community and people around the world. "Unfortunately, the events in Srebrenica have become synonymous with the war and the conflict in BiH during the 1990s, while very few people know about the suffering of Serb civilians in that same area, which continued over a period of three years," Vukelić told SRNA. He added that it was particularly troubling that even part of the Serb public was not well informed about these events.