DODIK: BRUTAL CRIME IN TUZLA IS NOT ONLY HISTORICAL FACT, BUT WOUND THAT BURNS

BANJA LUKA, MAY 14 /SRNA/ – President Milorad Dodik stressed that the crime against JNA members in Tuzla, who were peacefully withdrawing from the city in a convoy in accordance with an agreement, was pre-planned and conceived in the minds of Muslim paramilitary and political structures, which decided to send yet another message through bloodshed to Serbs that there is no right to life for them in BiH, nor any agreement except expulsion and killing.

On the occasion of marking the commemoration of the killing of JNA members in Tuzla on May 15, 1992, Dodik told SRNA that on that day 34 years ago not only soldiers were killed, but also the word, the agreement and every possibility of trust. "The young men who believed they were leaving the city in accordance with an agreement were cowardly ambushed from behind with bullets, fire and brutal hatred. Footage of burning vehicles and the bodies of soldiers that went around the world remain permanent evidence of a planned crime that, even after more than three decades, has not received the justice that all innocent victims and their families deserve", Dodik said. He stressed that it especially hurts that the killers, known to everyone, including the judiciary in BiH, walk freely, while Serb victims are systematically silenced, which shows the deep injustice that exists in BiH and which the Serb people have faced from the early 1990s until today. "BiH is a country where Serb victims are irrelevant and Serb suffering is an unwanted topic, where black scarves carry no weight, nor do the tears of Serb mothers. The judiciary in its current form clearly does not recognize Serb victims, but it will prosecute every Serb who raises three fingers, who congratulates the birthday of the first president of Republika Srpska and commander of the Serb army. All this once again confirms that where logic ends, BiH begins, and that it is only a country of absurdity", Dodik stated. Despite everything, Dodik said Republika Srpska, its people and institutions will never allow the "Tuzla Convoy" to be forgotten, nor will they accept rewriting or falsification of history, as Muslims allegedly attempt, including in this case where the killing of JNA soldiers is celebrated as the so-called "Day of Defense of Tuzla". "This all shows who openly advocated war in BiH, who fired at a Serb wedding guest in Baščaršija, at a JNA convoy in Dobrovoljačka and committed the massacre in Sijekovac. These are all painful examples and evidence of insane thinking and the Muslim political vision of BiH as a Muslim state in which two constituent peoples, Serbs and Croats, would not have the right to life", Dodik stressed. He said it is a duty to speak the truth, preserve the memory of the killed soldiers and teach future generations what happened when hatred and Muslim extremism replaced reason and agreement. “We will therefore always remember with dignity and pride that innocent people, innocent youth, were killed in Tuzla, only because they were members of the JNA and because they were Serbs. The brutal crime in Tuzla is not only a historical fact, but a deep wound that still burns today for the families who lost their loved ones, but also for all of us, because on May 15 youth was stopped in trucks that were supposed to take them home, to a more peaceful tomorrow. Instead of the embrace of mother, father, sister, brother, they were met with gunfire and shelling, and instead of a negotiated peaceful withdrawal, there remained only the smell of gunpowder, fire, ashes and a loud silence that still echoes in Brčanska Malta", Dodik emphasized. He added that it is therefore a duty to preserve the memory of them and the sacrifice they made by the will of monsters, who, for their insane idea of a Muslim BiH, brutally killed, burned, and sowed death. "They started a senseless war, sacrificed peace, but did not realize their idea, because the Serb people had Republika Srpska and institutions that protect them even today. And therefore, as long as we have our Republic and our institutions, the Serb people should not worry, but must protect them, because they are a pledge of those who gave their lives and body parts so that we may have freedom today", Dodik concluded. According to official data, Muslim units in Tuzla attacked a JNA convoy on May 15, 1992, and killed 54 soldiers and wounded 78, violating an agreement under which the convoy, like other JNA units leaving BiH, was supposed to leave the city peacefully. Of the 44 captured soldiers, five were later killed, while others were abused and tortured.