MEMORIAL PLAQUE SHOULD BE ERECTED AT BRČANSKA MALTA

TUZLA, MAY 15 /SRNA/ - Survivors of the Tuzla Convoy have called on the authorities in Tuzla to allow, 33 years after the crime, the installation of a memorial plaque at Brčanska Malta, where 54 young men were treacherously killed in a Muslim attack on a JNA convoy.

The president of the Republika Srpska Veterans' Organization Radan Ostojić said that Serbs came to Brčanska Malta today "armed" with a candle and a rose, which they will take back with them after the memorial service so they wouldn't be destroyed in this city.

At Brčanska Malta in Tuzla, where 54 young men were treacherously killed on May 15, 1992, in a Muslim attack on a JNA convoy during an agreed peaceful withdrawal, a memorial service was held today for the victims of the crime, and messages of peace were once again sent.

The gathering took place peacefully, and the site where the memorial service for the killed JNA members was held was cordoned off with yellow police tape.

At the site of the crime, family members of the innocent victims, who have been waiting in vain for justice for these brutal killings for 33 years, gathered alongside survivors of the Tuzla Convoy, and Maja Gačić, the envoy of the Serbian member and Chairwoman of the BiH Presidency.

The commemoration of 33 years since the crime committed by Muslim forces against members of the JNA, and the subsequent exodus of 80,000 Serbs from the Tuzla region, was attended by representatives of the local governments of Bijeljina, Ugljevik, and Lopare, as well as members of the Third /Republika Srpska/ Regiment of the BiH Armed Forces.

Four buses carrying the families of the victims and other citizens from Republika Srpska were searched by the FBiH police at Banj Brdo.

Upon returning to Bijeljina, a memorial service will be held at 12:30 in front of the memorial ossuary for those killed in the Tuzla Convoy, located at the cemetery in Pučile. Wreaths and flowers will be laid, followed by official addresses.

On May 15, 1992, Muslim forces attacked a JNA convoy in Tuzla, which, based on a previously reached agreement, was supposed to peacefully withdraw from the Tuzla barracks.

During the attack, 54 JNA soldiers were killed, 78 wounded, and 44 captured, of whom five were later killed, while the others were tortured and mistreated.