SMOLUĆA - SILENCE ON SERB VICTIMS AND PERSECUTION OF SERB WAR DEFENDERS

BIJELJINA, NOVEMBER 28 /SRNA/ – The Veterans' Association of the Guard "Panthers" today condemned the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office and Police of the Tuzla Canton, which summoned more than 50 Serb veterans for questioning over alleged crimes in Smoluća, a Serb village that survived 90 days of Muslim siege during the war, marked by relentless shelling, torture, and brutal killings.

The Association's president Petar Cvijetinović called on all those who received summons to request that they be questioned at the Bijeljina Police Administration instead of traveling to Tuzla, and urged the city authorities to provide logistical support to those being prosecuted. "We are outraged by the bias of the cantonal police and prosecutor's office, because no one has been held accountable for the Serb victims and the brutal crimes committed against civilians," Cvijetinović told reporters, announcing that the Veterans' Association will file reports regarding these horrific wartime events. He stated that eight Serb civilians were killed in Smoluća, seven in Potpeć, while 25 civilians were killed by shelling during the siege. The few who remained after the evacuation of the Serb population were, according to him, brutally murdered by Muslim forces. An elderly woman was raped and then killed with a grenade placed in her genital area; a sick old man calling for help was executed; captured Serbs were beaten and killed in camps, and some of their remains have still not been found. Cvijetinović reminded that 8,000 Serbs were living surrounded by Muslim forces, that they defended themselves until they were evacuated to free territory, and that 2,000 Serb households in Smoluća, Tinja, and Potpeć were subsequently destroyed.