108TH ANNIVERSARY OF GAVRILO PRINCIP'S DEATH MARKED IN BELGRADE

BELGRADE, APRIL 28 /SRNA/ – The 108th anniversary of the death of Gavrilo Princip was commemorated today in Belgrade, a Mlada Bosna organisation member, who carried out the assassination of Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.

State Secretary at Serbia's Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy Nikola Vukelić told SRNA that it is important to preserve the memory of Serb history, as it offers many answers for the present moment and what is happening to the Serb people.

"History constantly intertwines with current events. Gavrilo Princip is certainly a historically significant figure for Serbs on both sides of the Drina, and the message is that we are one people sharing a common destiny," he emphasized.

Vukelić expressed satisfaction that today’s commemoration also included the Republika Srpska Representative Office in Serbia, with which there is excellent cooperation, and reminded that a joint commemoration of the 31st anniversary of the suffering of the Serb people in the Croatian Flash military operation is upcoming.

"There are many important dates, but also tragic events that we must remember. The creation of Republika Srpska led to the events we can be proud of, which contributed to the survival of the Serb people on the other side of the Drina in their ancestral homes," Vukelić said.

At Gavrilo Princip Park in Belgrade, wreaths were laid at Princip’s monument by representatives of the Committee preserving traditions of Serbia’s liberation wars under the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy, the Ministry of Defence, the Serbia's Armed Forces, the City of Belgrade, as well as BiH ambassador to Serbia Aleksandar Vranješ, and the head of the Republika Srpska Representative Office in Belgrade Mlađen Cicović.

Wreaths and flowers were also laid by associations preserving traditions, war veterans organisations, and representatives of the Savski Venac municipality.

At the same time, a delegation of the Serbia's parliamentary Committee preserving traditions of liberation wars will pay tribute in the Czech town of Terezín, where Princip died in an Austro-Hungarian prison.

Wreath-laying state ceremony and tribute is held every year on April 28, the date when Princip died in Terezín prison.

The Sarajevo assassination was carried out on St. Virus Day /June 28, 1914/, which served as the pretext for the outbreak of the First World War.