DOLIJANOVIĆ: I IDENTIFIED MY BROTHER BY A PIECE OF HIS SWEATER; HIS BODY WAS DRAGGED BY HORSES, THEN BURNED

BANJA LUKA, JULY 5 /SRNA/ – Krsto Dolijanović from the Bratunac village of Bratinci recounted in a testimony for the Republika Srpska Memorial Centre the deaths of his brothers, Vujadin and Miladin, during the 1992–1995 Defensive-Patriotic War.

"I lost two brothers in less than eight months. I buried one of them whole, but of the other I recognised only a piece of his sweater and the strap from a miner's boot," Dolijanović said. He recalled that, although both of his brothers had jobs and lives far from the war zone, they left everything behind and returned to their native village of Bratinci to defend their family and homeland. "They came to defend their land, their municipality and their village. They could not stay away while war was being fought here," Krsto said. According to him, Vujadin was the first to be killed, on May 24, 1992, during the first attack by Muslim forces on the village of Bratinci, at a location known locally as "Đorđina's Garden". "His body was found during the night by our youngest brother Duško and Dragan Radović, who carried him out of the village wrapped in a blanket. Because of the danger of further attacks, he was buried the following day at the village cemetery under the protection of members of the Republika Srpska Army. A year later, the family transferred his remains to the cemetery in Bratunac," Dolijanović said. He went on to say that on Orthodox Christmas Day, January 7, 1993, forces from Srebrenica attacked the village of Marići, where his brother Miladin was on guard duty. "He woke up his fellow soldiers and set out to return to his position, moving from oak tree to oak tree to avoid enemy fire. He did not make it - he was shot through an oak tree, and his body was taken to the clinic in Kravica together with the bodies of several other fallen soldiers," Krsto recalled. Dolijanović said that after Muslim forces entered Kravica, the bodies were taken from the clinic, tied with electrical cables, dragged by horses and then burned. When the remains were found some time later, the family had almost nothing left to bury. "All I recognised of my brother was a single pattern on his sweater that had not burned and the strap from a miner's boot. I buried two bones and his skull," Krsto said. Despite losing his brothers, Krsto did not leave his position. He spent the war serving in the Republika Srpska Army while all three of his sons were also at the front. He did not see his youngest son for six months, and when the young man finally came home, his mother did not recognise him because he lost weight, was unshaven and exhausted by the war. Today, Krsto lives in Bratunac. He regularly visits the cemetery, lights candles and preserves the memory of his brothers, convinced that their sacrifice must never be forgotten. On the occasion of marking the 34th anniversary of the suffering of Serbs in the Central Podrinje and Birač region, the Republika Srpska Memorial Centre is presenting a series of testimonies that have until now been largely unknown to the wider public, documenting the suffering of the Serb people in the area during the Defensive-Patriotic War. The central commemoration for the 3,267 Serbs from the Central Podrinje and Birač region who were killed during the war was held yesterday in Bratunac under the motto: "One is not invited to Bratunac – one goes to Bratunac."