GRAORAC: PODRINJE - BLACK SPOT OF BiH JUDICIARY AND THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL

BANJA LUKA, JANUARY 16 /SRNA/ - The President of the Republic Organization of Families of Captured, Killed Soldiers and Missing Civilians Isidora Graorac told SRNA that Podrinje is a "black spot" of the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Hague Tribunal, because even after three decades, despite numerous evidence, no one on the Bosniak side was adequately punished for the monstrous murders of more than 3,000 Serb civilians from this area.

"There are numerous pieces of evidence, videos, remains, statements of surviving witnesses about these crimes, and the documentation of pathologist Zoran Stanković, which speak about how these people were tortured and killed," Graorac pointed out. She said that the Serb people must never forget the terrible crimes committed by Muslim soldiers in Skelani and the entire Podrinje during the last war. "People in Skelani were killed by Naser Orić's war hordes just because they were Serbs. The most monstrous thing is that children who were just looking for salvation were also killed, among whom were the Dimitrijević brothers and many others," Graorac highlighted. She pointed out that there seems to be no justice for the Serb victims of the war because the judicial institutions at the BiH level are still not doing anything to prosecute these crimes. According to her, the tragedy is that these crimes are repeated, because the same crimes were committed against Serbs by their neighbors during the Second World War. "By cherishing the culture of memory on these events, serving candles to the murdered and passing on the truth to future generations, we can prevent such crimes from ever happening again," Graorac said. Speaking about today's commemoration in Trebinje of 30 years since the death of Aleksandar Masleša, the youngest fighter of the Trebinje Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, Graorac pointed out that Masleša gave his young life for Srpska, believing in freedom and a better tomorrow. "Serb soldiers in the past war were only defending their centuries-old hearths. We had situations where young fighters gave their lives defending our homeland - Republika Srpska. We remain to permanently remember Aleksander Masleša, Spomenko Gostić and all other young fighters of the Republika Srpska Army and we pass down the truth to the generations to come about their brave feats," Graorac said. At the Central Monument for 305 martyred Serb civilians and soldiers in Skelani near Srebrenica, a memorial service will be held today and honor will be paid to the murdered Serbs from this place and neighboring villages, 69 of whom died on that date 32 years ago in an attack by Muslim forces. Continuing the ethnic cleansing of central Podrinje and the destruction of everything Serbian, which began in April 1992, strong Muslim forces of several thousand soldiers from Srebrenica, under the command of Naser Orić, attacked the Serb villages around Skelani at dawn on January 16, 1993. Two thirds of the victims were civilians, including several children. 165 locals were wounded. Today in Trebinje will be marked 30 years since the death of Aleksandar Masleša, the youngest fighter of the Trebinje Brigade of the Srpska Army. Masleša died on January 16, 1995 at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade as a result of his injuries on September 27, 1994 at Boračko Jezero near Konjic.