OSTOJIĆ: MLADIĆ WILL FOREVER HAVE A PLACE IN OUR GLORIOUS HISTORY

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 5 /SRNA/ - The Minister of Labor and Veterans and Disability Protection of Republika Srpska Radan Ostojić said that General Ratko Mladić took on the enormous responsibility of protecting the Serb people and Republika Srpska, which is why he will forever remain enshrined in their most glorious history.

"He endured enormous suffering, mourned every soldier and every civilian and suffered personal tragedies as well. And when freedom finally came to all of us, he continued down the path of suffering and sacrifice, again for the Serb people and for all of us," Ostojić said. He added that this was a testament to the general's stature and the reason he is a historical figure. Ostojić said that, in these days of mourning, the Serbian people were writing a new chapter of their history, of which General Ratko Mladić was a part. Ostojić stated that this was not ordinary history written on a sheet of paper, which can be erased and often rewritten by others, but history that does not fade, that is written in their hearts and lives forever. "It is a privilege for me to bid farewell today, on behalf of my fellow soldiers, the Serb people and Republika Srpska, to General Ratko Mladić," Ostojić said, addressing the memorial ceremony at the Army House in Belgrade. Ostojić asked who the Serbs would be without their history, without the Nemanjić dynasty, Prince Lazar and the heroes of Kosovo, the Kosovo Covenant, Karađorđe, all the field marshals of the First World War, without Dragoljub, the Cyrillic script, the Serbian language, the tradition of patron-saint celebrations, Orthodoxy and the monasteries of Kosovo. "Who are we in Republika Srpska without Ratko, Radovan and January 9? A people without its own history, a people without its own nation, is a people still in the making. But we are not a people still in the making. We are a people with a glorious history, and General Ratko Mladić is becoming part of that history. Who can erase or ban that?" Ostojić said. He reminded that General Ratko Mladić took command of the Serb people in Republika Srpska in 1992. "He took the lead and took an enormous burden and responsibility - to preserve Republika Srpska, to protect its territory and its people, and to be accountable for every soldier and every civilian," Ostojić said. Ostojić added that the general taught them to follow the path of Christ, the path of suffering, goodness and love, mutual understanding and respect, solidarity and unity - all in one uniform and under the same cap bearing the same insignia. "And perhaps that is the one thing he managed to achieve in the history of the Serb people. It was a path on which many departed into eternity, into the Kingdom of Heaven, but it was also the path on which freedom and Republika Srpska were reborn," Ostojić stressed. He said it was a path on which his fellow soldiers, together with General Mladić, marked the borders of Republika Srpska with their lives, blood and sacrifice. "Go now, General, into eternity, go into the Kingdom of Heaven, go into freedom and resurrection, go to meet the heroes of Kosovo, those who gave their lives for freedom on Kosovo Field, and all those throughout history who gave their lives for the freedom of the Serbian people," Ostojić said.