TRIŠIĆ-BABIĆ: BURNS' PRESENCE AT COMMEMORATION SENT A MESSAGE THAT PAST CANNOT BE IGNORED

BANJA LUKA, JULY 4 /SRNA/ – By attending the commemoration in Bratunac, U.S. President's spiritual adviser Mark Burns sent a strong message that the past cannot be ignored and that honouring innocent victims is a civilizational obligation that knows no borders, Acting Director of the Republika Srpska Office for International Cooperation Ana Trišić-Babić told SRNA.

"Burns also sent a strong message to the international community that justice for victims is not merely a political issue, but a moral imperative," Trišić-Babić said. She adds she also sees his attendance at the commemoration marking more than three decades since the deaths of 3,267 Serbs in the Central Podrinje and Birač regions as a message from the new U.S. administration that it seeks to pursue a more realistic approach to the Balkans. The U.S. President's adviser today attended the memorial service at the Bratunac cemetery for the 3,267 Serbs from the Central Podrinje and Birač region who were killed by members of Muslim military units. Earlier, he took part in the religious procession from the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos to the cemetery in Bratunac, led by His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia. Tribute was paid for all Serb victims from Central Podrinje and Birač as part of the marking the 34th anniversary of the large-scale suffering of Serbs on St. Peter's Day in 1992, when 69 soldiers and civilians were killed in villages around Srebrenica and Bratunac, while 22 others were captured, none of whom survived. This year's commemorative programme’s motto is "One Is Not Invited to Bratunac - One Goes to Bratunac." During the 1992–1995 war, Muslim units from Srebrenica most frequently attacked Serb villages on major Orthodox holidays. On St. Peter's Day in 1992, they carried out attacks in the villages of Zalazje, Biljača, Sase and Zagoni, killing those they encountered and looting and burning Serb-owned property.