DODIK: "SILOS" CAMP SYMBOLIZES SYSTEMATIC ABUSE OF SERB CIVILIANS - NEVER FORGET, NEVER AGAIN

BANJA LUKA, JANUARY 26 /SRNA/ – SNSD President Milorad Dodik stated that the "Silos" detention camp in Tarčin near Sarajevo, where more than 600 Serb civilians were held captive, was a systematically organized site of torture in which civilians, including children, pregnant women, and the elderly were abused, beaten, starved, and psychologically broken under extremely inhumane and degrading conditions.

Dodik pointed out that even today, 30 years after its closure, the notorious "Silos" camp remains a symbol of the suffering and agony of Serb civilians, a painful warning and an open wound in the collective memory of the Serb people.

"The torture and humiliation the detainees experienced solely because of their Serb name, surname, and origin represent the deepest moral collapse of modern civilization - orchestrated by those who to this day speak of so-called democracy, multiethnicity, and coexistence," Dodik stressed.

He added that Serbs once again demonstrated their naivety by trusting their Muslim neighbors and the communist utopia of brotherhood and unity - a concept that ultimately cost the Serb people the most, despite the fact that their ancestors brought freedom to these lands in 1945.

"We believed fascism had been definitively defeated and buried. However, in the 1990s, the descendants of the followers of the greatest evil of the 20th century — the dark ideology of Nazism and fascism - reawakened and attempted to complete what they failed to achieve during the Second World War. The descendants of the supporters of the Hanjar Division continued to commit unprecedented brutal crimes against innocent Serbs, and one of the eternal symbols of that evil are the walls of 'Silos,' which bear witness to the darkest and most painful truth," Dodik emphasized.

The SNSD leader noted that particular gravity lies in the fact that the camp remained active even after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords.

"While the world spoke of the end of the war and peace, organized camps in Sarajevo continued to exist where Serbs were subjected to torture. This is yet another stain on the conscience of all those who remained silent at the time. But they have no conscience, no shame, and no sense of guilt or responsibility. They are torturers without scruples or restraint," Dodik stressed.

The suffering of Serbs in camps, not only in Sarajevo but throughout BiH, must not be ignored, diminished, or relativized.

"Every victim has their first and last name, a family, and the right to truth. Remembering 'Silos' is not a political issue, but a matter of humanity and empathy. Three decades after the camp’s closure, the pain remains alive - compounded by the fact that the Hague Tribunal refused to address these cases and transferred them to the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, ironically located in the building of a former camp for Sarajevo Serbs.

The outcome of judicial proceedings, unfortunately, once again confirms that quasi-judicial institutions in BiH deal superficially, or not at all, with crimes committed against Serbs, and their verdicts are a mockery of justice and an insult to the victims," Dodik underlined.

He reminded that when Sarajevo speaks about the war, the narrative is always the same - siege, shelling, suffering and that version dominates public, media coverage, and political messaging.

"What is persistently ignored is the fate of Serbs in Sarajevo and its surroundings - the abuse, camps, expulsions, killings, and systematic intimidation that led to the disappearance of almost an entire people from a city that had been theirs, as well, for centuries," Dodik stressed.

He said that truth cannot be one-sided and that no moral position can be built solely on one’s own suffering while ignoring that of others.

"Serbs in Sarajevo did not disappear naturally or voluntarily. Thousands of families endured threats, arrests, detention in camps such as 'Silos' and 'Viktor Bubanj,' beatings, pressure to abandon their homes and property. Many were killed, and the fate of many remains unknown to this day.

These facts are not spoken of in Sarajevo because they do not fit into a narrative in which there is only one victim and only one truth - the Muslim one. But without acknowledging that Serbs were also victims of crimes, persecution, and systematic discrimination, there can be no sincere confrontation with the past - only political exploitation of suffering, torture, and pain," Dodik pointed out.

The SNSD president stated that truth is not a threat to those with nothing to hide, but it is a threat to narratives built on selective memory in Sarajevo and the other entity for years.

He stressed that it is the duty of today’s generations to preserve the truth about the Defensive-Patriotic War, not for the sake of revenge, but for the dignity of their own victims and as a warning to the future.

"A society that forgets its victims risks history repeating itself, just as it did in the 1990s, when we as a people once again fell for the idea of Yugoslavism and the artificial concept of brotherhood and unity.

That is why January 27, 1996 and every date, every anniversary, must be a moment of reflection, respect, and prayer for all those who endured the Golgotha not only of 'Silos,' but of other camps for Serbs, the Sarajevo exodus, crimes in Podrinje, Herzegovina, Krajina, and a reminder that justice and memory remain a debt that must be fulfilled. Never forgotten. Never repeated," SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said.