FILIPOVIĆ: ATTACKS FROM FBiH ARE ADDED MOTIVATION FOR BUILDING THE MEMORIAL

BRATUNAC, MAY 20 /SRNA/ – The wave of Bosniak condemnations regarding the construction of a memorial complex for Serb victims from the Birač region in Bratunac provides additional motivation and strength to ensure the monument is built, so it can testify to the truth about the suffering and unpunished crimes committed by Muslims against innocent civilians, said Radojka Filipović, president of the Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians of Bratunac.

Filipović emphasized that the attacks and criticism from Federation media, Bosniak politicians, and associations over the planned central memorial to Serbs killed in the Birač region are a continuation of the pressure that began during the war – pressure directed at Serbs, the Army of Republika Srpska, and everything Serbian in BiH. She pointed out that, with the support of Western powers - the so-called international community - Bosniaks are ignoring the 3,267 Serb victims from this region in the last war, around 70 percent of whom were civilians, in an effort to conceal their crimes and protect perpetrators who have never been held accountable. "From the start of the war in BiH, Western media pushed the narrative of Serbian guilt for everything, while portraying Bosniaks as victims, imposing this propaganda and creating a false history. Bosniaks won't drop this narrative and are trying by all means to forbid even the mention of Serbian victims," Filipović added. According to her, the families of Serb victims find the reactions from FBiH regarding the memorial in Bratunac to be shameful and unjustified. "That's primitivism and arrogance beyond the grasp of common sense," she stated. Filipović stressed that these indecent and uncivilized reactions reflect the hatred and chauvinist frustration of various Bosniak war-related associations and political structures that have for years courted international representatives and gained their support. "It is clear why they ignore Serb victims and want to ban any mention of them — to protect Muslim war criminals and hide the many monstrous crimes committed in 1992 and 1993 in central Podrinje and other parts of BiH where they had the opportunity, crimes for which no one has been held accountable," she said. She emphasized that these Bosniak condemnations and reactions are actually an attempt to escape the truth and avoid responsibility at all costs, since the memorial complex will be a testament and reminder of those crimes — a monument that will "speak" the truth about unpunished Muslim crimes against Serb civilians in the areas around Srebrenica, Bratunac, Milići, and Zvornik. Filipović believes that with this kind of attitude - the persistent effort to prevent any mention of Serb victims instead of encouraging open discussion - the Bosniak side is trying to stop the truth about the nature of the war and Serbian suffering from reaching the global public. She said they are trying to hide and erase the crimes committed by the 28th Division of the so-called Army of BiH and Muslim civilians against the Serb population in central Podrinje. "There can be no reconciliation or shared life without truth and justice, no building of trust in BiH," Filipović concluded. On May 16, the Government of Republika Srpska instructed the Ministry of Finance to secure nearly BAM 583,000 for the expropriation of land for the construction of the memorial complex in Bratunac in memory of Serb victims of Muslim crimes in Podrinje from 1992 to 1995. This marks the beginning of the implementation of the Government's conclusion adopted on July 11, 2024, regarding the project to build a memorial complex in memory of the 3,267 killed and fallen Serbs from central Podrinje and Birač during the Defensive-Patriotic War. The memorial complex in Bratunac will permanently testify to the scale of Serb suffering in Podrinje and serve as a reminder that no one has yet been held accountable for these crimes.