SEARCH CONTINUES FOR 82 MISSING SERBS, CALL FOR REPUBLIKA SRPSKA OFFICE

MOSTAR, JUNE 15 /SRNA/ – The search is still ongoing for 82 Serbs from Herzegovina who went missing during the past war, and the Republika Srpska Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians has received support to try to resolve the issue of missing Serbs and unidentified human remains within Republika Srpska, the organization's president, Isidora Graorac, said during the commemoration marking 34 years since the exodus of Serbs from Mostar and the Neretva Valle.

She said that compared to last year there had been no significant progress, not only regarding Mostar, but also across eastern Herzegovina.

"The fact that 82 people are still being sought shows that this process has not progressed at the expected pace and that, unfortunately, we still have a large number of people whose fate remains unknown. The families and those of us who represent them are appealing to the authorities of Republika Srpska to help us move this process forward and obtain new information and identifications", Graorac said.

Graorac emphasized that it is known that a large number of unidentified human remains are located in three memorial ossuaries in Republika Srpska, one of which is in Nevesinje.

She said they had received support to try to resolve this issue within Republika Srpska and, in that context, were also seeking the establishment of an office that would deal with this matter.

"I believe we will succeed. Then we will be able to say that we are assuming responsibility and restoring the competencies that existed before 2008, when this issue was handled by the entity commissions. We have been compelled to do this by the fact that today we have parents older than 75 who, if they rely solely on the work of the existing institutions, may never learn the fate of their loved ones", Graorac said.

Nikola Perišić, Chairman of the Collegium of Directors of the BiH Missing Persons Institute, said this was a sad day for all Serbs from the Neretva Valley, Mostar and Herzegovina, noting that more than 80 Serbs from the area are still missing, most of them elderly, vulnerable persons and women.

"These are acts of serious war crimes", Perišić said, adding that, unfortunately, there is less and less relevant information that could lead to the discovery of remains.

Perišić stated that a kind of wall of silence still exists when it comes to information, but that certain field activities could be expected in the coming period because some information does exist, although it is difficult to speak about final results.

"I believe that this number will decrease in the foreseeable future. During the past year, two persons of Serbian nationality from the Mostar region were identified", Perišić said.

The commemoration marking 34 years since the exodus of the Serb people from Mostar and the Neretva Valley was attended by Serbian Consul in Mostar Petar Spadijer, members of the Republika Srpska National Assembly Ilija Tamindžija and Ognjen Kuljić, Nevesinje Mayor Milenko Avdalović, Istočno Mostar Mayor Božo Sjeran, representatives of the Republika Srpska Government Office in Mostar and others.

Today marks 34 years since the exodus of the Serb people from Mostar and the Neretva Valley, during which 431 people were killed and more than 30,000 left their homes. On this day, the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Mostar was also set on fire.