TAKE SCIENTIFIC AND ETHICALLY RESPONSIBLE POSITION ON THE ISSUE OF SUFFERING IN BiH

BANJA LUKA, JULY 10 /SRNA/ – The Republika Srpska Socio-Political Research Centre is calling on all social, academic, media, and institutional stakeholders, both local and international, to take a scientifically and ethically responsible stance on the issue of suffering in BiH.

"Recognition of all victims, without selectiveness or political calculations, is the foundation of every serious reconciliation process. Science, law, and history must not be subordinated to daily politics or instrumentalized for one-sided interpretations," the Centre stated. The statement emphasizes that any narrative which cannot be scientifically and professionally researched and presented cannot be treated as an established fact, but rather as propaganda. "Only when the Potočari Memorial Centre is viewed in the light of actual data, as a cemetery of members of a military formation killed in a complex military operation, will it be possible to establish an honest dialogue about victims, responsibility, and the future," the Socio-Political Research Centre noted. The Centre has emphasized that it remains open to cooperation with all parties who share this approach and who are ready to confront the truth in all its complexity. "The July 1995events, when the Republika Srpska Army entered Srebrenica to demilitarize the enclave, while the military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in BiH, namely the 28th Division of the so-called Army of BiH, attempted an organised breakout toward territory under their control, represent one of the most controversial and most instrumentalized moments in modern European history and beyond," the statement said. The Centre added that the judgments of the Hague Tribunal, although formally rendered in accordance with procedural norms to some extent, largely ignore established facts suggesting that Muslim civilians from the enclave were, at the request of the UN and their own representatives, safely transported to Muslim-controlled territory, and that most individuals recorded as victims of war crimes got killed in the context of active military operations. According to Tribunal findings and thousands of documents and testimonies from the Muslim side and internationals, the breakout from the encirclement was carried out by an organised, armed, and command-led unit, the 28th Division, whose members wore uniforms to some degree, had single command, carried out combat tasks, and engaged in organised attacks or resistance in several combat encounters with the Republika Srpska Army, the statement emphasized. The Centre points out that these facts are also confirmed by statements given by members of this military formation to their own security bodies, as well as records from the military wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in BiH. Data from official sources, such as the database of the Federal Ministry of Veterans' Affairs, show that all or nearly all individuals buried at the Potočari Memorial Centre were registered as sodiers and holders of military service records. "Their names largely match data from the International Commission on Missing Persons /ICMP/, which points to a key fact: 'Potočari,' although presented as a civilian memorial site, in reality represents a cemetery for fallen members of a military formation," the Socio-Political Research Centre stated. The statement adds that this conclusion can also be drawn from legal acts regulating the appearance of military cemeteries of the so-called Army of BiH, the symbolism of martyr headstones and markers, military burial rituals, and other relevant facts. "From the perspective of international humanitarian law, this means that the status of the deceased must be analyzed in light of their participation in combat, and that any legal distinction must begin with determining on an individual basis who got killed in combat, who was captured and possibly executed, and who was a civilian," the Centre explained. The statement stressed that the Potočari Memorial Centre is obliged, in accordance with Article 120 of the Third Geneva Convention, to clearly visually separate military from civilian graves, i.e., the military from the civilian section of the cemetery. The Centre pointed out that the most significant step forward for civilization in the region was made by the leadership of Republika Srpska through the establishment of the Independent International Commission Investigating Suffering of All Peoples in the Srebrenica Region from 1992 to 1995. "A team of 10 internationally renowned experts of the highest integrity independently investigated all available documents and facts and prepared a report of over 1,100 pages. The report was collectively authored, with all commission members agreeing upon and signing it," the statement recalled. The Center has stated that the report documents the suffering and crimes committed by both warring sides and characterizes them appropriately. The leadership of Republika Srpska acknowledged the report and the facts within it, including documented crimes against Muslim civilians and soldiers. "In doing so, Republika Srpska has institutionally confronted its past and shown respect for Muslim victims, as well as Serb victims, calling on the judiciary to bring perpetrators on all sides to justice," the statement noted. The Centre added that, unfortunately, political and other representatives of the Muslim-Bosniak people still deny Serb victims and responsibility for those crimes. Furthermore, since the publication of this report, there has been no recorded denial of crimes against captured members of the 28th Division of the so-called Army of BiH in the public sphere of Republika Srpska.