STEVANDIĆ: MUSLIM CRIMES IN CENTRAL PODRINJE - ATTEMPT TO EXTERMINATE SERBS

BRATUNAC, JULY 4 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić has stated today in Bratunac that the suffering of Serbs in the Central Podrinje and Birač is Muslim crime against innocent Serb civilians and an attempt to exterminate the population of the area.

"We will never stop waiting for justice, but we will also never stop fighting for it because, if we are honest, it is only in the past 15 years that we have become sufficiently aware of ourselves to make the whole world know about this, since we remained silent for a long time," the Republika Srpska parliament speaker said. According to Stevandić, over the past 15 years Serbs have demonstrated great dignity. "We know these were the largest and most brutal crimes committed by Muslim forces between 1992 and 1995, during which a huge number of civilians, people who did not take part in the battles, were slaughtered. Children and elderly people were killed here, victims had their throats slit in ritual killings, and entire families were wiped out, without any combat operations taking place," Stevandić told the press. The Republika Srpska National Assembly speaker emphasized that this was fundamentally different from the military operations of 1995, which have received far greater public attention. "This was not a clash between military formations, but an attempt to exterminate an entire people in the Podrinje region, with the bloodiest crimes committed in Kravica, Bratunac, Zalazje and Srebrenica. These events preceded the end of the war," he said. Stevandić added that these events made Serbs realize they would disappear unless they resisted and ended the war by securing victory and defending Republika Srpska. "That is the truth we are fighting for today, the truth that is lacking the names of, and convictions for, those responsible for the brutal massacres and killings of the Serb people in the Podrinje region," Stevandić stressed. A tribute is being paid today in Bratunac for all Serb victims from the Central Podrinje and Birač region who were killed during the Defensive-Patriotic War, which is being organised to mark the 34th anniversary of the large-scale suffering of Serbs on St. Peter's Day in 1992 in villages around Srebrenica and Bratunac, when 69 soldiers and civilians were killed and 22 people were taken captive, none of whom survived. Muslim units from Srebrenica frequently attacked Serb-populated villages during the Defensive-Patriotic War on major Orthodox religious holidays. On St. Peter's Day in 1992, they attacked the villages of Zalazje, Biljača, Sase and Zagoni, killing everyone they encountered while looting and burning Serb-owned property. This year's commemorative programme’s moto is "One Is Not Invited to Bratunac – One Goes to Bratunac".