AGREEMENT SIGNED TO PRESERVE TESTIMONIES OF SERB SUFFERING

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, MAY 25 /SRNA/ - Istočno Sarajevo Mayor Ljubiša Ćosić, representatives of the city's municipalities, and Republika Srpska Memorial Center Director Denis Bojić today have signed a memorandum on institutional cooperation in documenting the suffering of the Serb people during the Homeland-Defense War in Sarajevo and the Sarajevo-Romanija region.

The memorandum provides for the creation of studio space for recording and producing video testimonies, as well as the establishment of an expert team that will carry out the work in cooperation with organizations stemming from the Homeland-Defense War and associates from the city municipalities. The recorded testimonies will become part of the future museum dedicated to the creation of Republika Srpska and the archives of the Republika Srpska Memorial Center, while also being available to the City of Istočno Sarajevo for presentation and memorialization purposes. Following the signing ceremony, Ćosić said the activities would present the truth about the suffering of Serbs in the area, stressing that the time has come for Serbs to be freed from labels that have been unfairly attached to them for years. "We are not doing this only for ourselves and for those who created Republika Srpska, but also for our children, who need to hear and never forget these testimonies. In the modern era, this is best achieved through digitalization, audio-visual presentation and everything that will accompany these activities," Ćosić told reporters. He explained that the memorandum includes audio-visual testimonies from the families of killed, captured, and missing soldiers and civilians, creating not only a statistical database for the Republika Srpska Memorial Center, but also a broader process of documenting the history of Republika Srpska. Bojić expressed hope that the testimonies about the suffering of Serbs in the region would leave future generations with material strong enough to shape them politically and historically and help them respond to challenges continuously faced by the Serb people, including what he described as historical revisionism. "A huge, challenging, and nationally important task lies ahead of us and I am certain that through this synergy and common idea we will carry it out in a manner worthy of every one of our victims," Bojić stressed. He said all municipalities within the City of Istočno Sarajevo had given full support to the initiative and called on everyone who lost a family member during the Defensive–Homeland War to gather the courage to speak about it. "I hope that soon, with a shared mission and understanding that we are on the same national path, we will prove worthy of every drop of blood shed by those thanks to whom we stand here today, free on our own land," Bojić said. President of the Republika Srpska Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians Isidora Graorac said the testimonies would be preserved for future generations wishing to learn what happened on the territory of Republika Srpska. "In the Sarajevo-Romanija region alone, more than 4,000 soldiers and civilians were killed, and they should remain permanently recorded in the history and culture of remembrance of our people," Graorac said. Dragan Kusmuk, child of a fallen soldier, called on families of fallen soldiers and civilians to leave testimonies about their loved ones so that something of them remains recorded in history. Trnovo Mayor Miroslav Bjelica said the municipality was among the hardest-hit in Republika Srpska and that the local administration would provide all its capacities to ensure the project is implemented in the best possible way. After signing the memorandum, the participants toured the room in the City Administration building that will be used for recording and documenting video material.