MINIĆ: ŽEPA ONE OF THE BIGGEST TRAGEDY SITES

HAN PIJESAK, JUNE 4 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić said that Žepa, near Han Pijesak, is one of the largest sites of suffering for soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska /RSA/, but that everything the Serb people endured has ultimately made them stronger.

Speaking about the RSA members who were brutally killed after trusting an agreement reached with members of the so-called Army of BiH, Minić said such events reflect what the Serb people experienced during the war and underscore the need to preserve a culture of remembrance. "Everything that happened to us has made us stronger," Minić said, adding that it is both an obligation and an honor to visit this site of suffering in Žepa. He stated that the Hague Tribunal was not a court for the former Yugoslavia but a court for Serbs, arguing that this is reflected in the prison sentences handed down in the Hague as well as by the Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH. "In a war that was essentially a form of civil war, where Muslims fought Muslims, Muslims fought Croats, Croats fought Serbs, Serbs fought Muslims, and Serbs fought Croats, some still label us as aggressors. This shows the extent to which human hatred, intent and malice can go," Minić said. Responding to claims that Serbs are a genocidal people, Minić said there is no need for comment, but rather a need to continue speaking the truth and to disregard falsehoods. A convoy of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the RSA was ambushed 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 Muslim forces to allow the Serb soldiers safe passage. However, the agreement was violated, and the soldiers were attacked from behind in an ambush.