TRIBUTES PAID TO THE KILLED AND MISSING IN DEFENSIVE - PATRIOTIC WAR

BIJELJINA, AUGUST 29 /SRNA/ - The International Day of the Disappeared was marked today in Bijeljina, where 40 missing persons are still being searched for, 12 of whom are civilians - one of whom is a child, two are women, 28 are members of the Republika Srpska Army.

The Head of the City Organization of Families of Captured and Killed Soldiers and Missing Civilians, Darko Stević, said at a gathering in Bijeljina downtown that the Serb people struggle through wars, including the last one, was always a struggle for freedom and their country. "History has proven the Serb people do not have freedom without a state, which, unfortunately, is always paid for too dearly, in the last war with 30,000 victims," said Stević. He pointed out that the families of the Serb victims are dissatisfied because the search for the missing Serbs has been stalled for decades. "Our request is the abolition or reorganisation of the BiH Missing Persons Institute, which has been operating in one direction since its inception so far finding and identifying only 59 Serb victims," said Stević. According to him, the Serb remembrance of the innocent victim is not resentful and should not turn into hatred and vindictiveness, but should be a permanent testimony of truth, justice, love and peace. In the Church of St. George in Bijeljina, a memorial service was held for the innocent victims, wreaths and flowers were laid at the central memorial to the defenders, and a visit was paid to the memorial room for the fallen soldiers.