MINIĆ: HONORING FALLEN SERB FIGHTERS IS SACRED DUTY AND OBLIGATION

HAN PIJESAK, JUNE 4 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić has stated today in Žepa, near Han Pijesak, that visiting the site where Serb fighters lost their lives is a sacred duty and obligation.

Following a memorial service for 45 members of the Army of Republika Srpska /RSA/ who were brutally killed, and the laying of wreaths at the Central Memorial Monument, Minić said he would do everything in his power to make every part of Republika Srpska better and ensure that their sacrifice is never forgotten. "Our task is to restore honor and respect to all our veterans, and we are fully committed to that goal", Minić said. He pointed to numerous geopolitical challenges, stressing that Republika Srpska must remain sustainable and maintain ties with major world powers. Radoslav Živković, president of the Assembly of the Veterans' Organization of Pale, said that the tragedy in Žepa remains an open wound that has neither healed nor ever will. He said it is the permanent duty of everyone in Republika Srpska to ensure that the sacrifice of the fallen soldiers is neither forgotten nor in vain. Wreaths were laid at the Central Memorial Monument by Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić and Minister of Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education Draga Mastilović, as well as family members of the fallen soldiers, delegations of organizations stemming from the Homeland-Defense War, National Assembly member Aco Stanišić, representatives of the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment of the Armed Forces of BiH, and representatives of the City of Istočno Sarajevo and the municipalities of Pale, Sokolac and Rogatica. A convoy of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the RSA was attacked on June 4, 1992, while traveling toward Mount Zlovrh to deliver food and water to 13 soldiers guarding a radio relay facility there. An agreement had been reached with the Muslim side to allow the Serb soldiers safe passage. However, the agreement was violated, and the soldiers were attacked from behind in an ambush. Members of the so-called Army of BiH captured 12 soldiers, locked them in a nearby barn, and burned them alive. The attack was one of the deadliest single incidents involving members of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps during the Homeland-Defense War. The memorial to the slain Serb fighters is located between Han Pijesak and Rogatica, on the line between the villages of Podžeplje, Stoborani and Krivače, which belong to the municipality of Han Pijesak and the local community of Žepa in Rogatica.