LINTA: IT IS OUR DUTY TO PERMANENTLY REMEMBER SIX-YEAR-OLD SLAĐAN ANTUNOVIĆ AND OTHER CIVILIANS KILLED IN ILIJAŠ

BELGRADE, AUGUST 25 /SRNA/ - The killing of Serb civilians in an artillery shelling of Ilijaš on August 24, 1992 was only a small part of the mass suffering of the Serb people in the Sarajevo area between 1991 and 1996, which unequivocally refutes the false myth of "Serb aggression," according to which Muslims were liberators and the only victims, while Serbs were aggressors and perpetrators, Chair of the Association of Serbs from the Region Miodrag Linta said.

"It is our duty to permanently remember the 22 Serb civilians killed in Ilijaš 34 years ago, among whom the youngest was six-year-old Slađan Antunović," Linta stressed.

He added that Serbs had not committed any aggression, but had been forced to defend themselves against the policies of Alija Izetbegović.

"It is an indisputable fact that crimes and victims existed on all sides and that all perpetrators should be punished and all victims respected equally. However, selective justice that ignores Serb victims is still at work," Linta said.

He noted that the false myth promoted by Bosniak politicians about the complete siege of Sarajevo is also refuted by the fact that Sarajevo Airport was under UN control and that Muslim forces received weapons, equipment and personnel through it.

"It was a legitimate military blockade aimed at defending the surrounding Serb-populated settlements - Ilidža, Grbavica, Vogošća and Ilijaš, which were attacked daily from the city centre. Serbs had lived in the Sarajevo area for centuries and had a legitimate right to defend their property," Linta concluded.