33 YEARS SINCE THE FIRST FORMATION OF SRPSKA POLICE FORCE, WHICH STOOD ON DEFENSE OF THE HOMELAND

SOKOLAC, MARCH 30 /SRNA/ - 33 years have been marked today in Sokolac since the First Parade of the Republika Srpska Police Force - the Republika Srpska Police, which, as it was pointed out, thanks to well-educated elders, together with the territorial defense, stood up for the homeland.

On this occasion, a reception was organized at the head of the municipality, Strahinja Bašević, candles were served and wreaths were laid on the Central Memorial, and memories of the 782 members of the MOI who died for the creation of Srpska were evoked.

Participants marking this date, significant for the defense of the people of the Sarajevo-Romanija region, the creation of the police and the MOI, as well as the Army of Republika Srpska, also visited the memorial room in the city settlement of Sokolac, which contains 630 photographs of fallen Serb fighters.

Goran Šehovac, Vice President of the Presidency of the Veterans' Organization of Republika Srpska, emphasized that this day should not be forgotten because the police at that time was the only legal formation, which, thanks to well-educated elders, together with the territorial defense, stood up for the motherland.

"If it wasn't for those people, in that difficult time, it's hard to say what would have happened when it comes to Srpsko Sarajevo and what would have happened to our citizens, and we should always pay tribute to those people, who maintained public order and peace, and then went on war missions," Šehovac said.

The President of the Branch of the Association of Veterans of the Republika Srpska Security Services from East Sarajevo, Radovan Pejić, reminded that in the former Republika Srpska BiH, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOI) was first formed, that 70 of the 230 members of the police force were trained to perform special tasks.

Pejić stated that the first head of the Security Service Center of the Sarajevo-Romanija region, Zoran Cvijetić, handed over the report to the First Minister of the Interior, Mićo Stanišić.

He added that it was the only Serb armed force in what was then BiH until May, when the Army of Republika Srpska was formed, which protected the Serb people and their property in this area with a reserve force and territorial defense.

Pejić announced that this year the Association of Veterans will work to have one of the streets or squares in Sokolac named after Zoran Cvijetić, and that a stone block with a plaque will be placed at the entrance to the stadium that will say what happened there on March 30, 1992.

"All citizens in Republika Srpska and their property are protected and will be safe as long as the MOI Srpska and veterans of the security service exist," said Pejić.

The mayor of the Sokolac municipality, Strahinja Bašević, said that it is an honor to be part of the event that nurtures the culture of memory of the first line-up and review of the police forces of the MOI of Srpska and the formation of the first Serb police force in the Sarajevo-Romanija region, when 230 policemen and members of the special purpose unit were lined up.

According to him, the creation of the first Serb police, MOI, Army and Republika Srpska are historical events because the Serbs on this side of the Drina did not have their own state and territory on which to organize themselves and decide their fate.

"Certainly we should do this in coexistence with all the surrounding nations, because even in today's circumstances we are not looking for anything from others, we just want to defend our own, to stay on our age-old hearths, organized into Republika Srpska that we created," Bašević told reporters.

Malko Koroman, one of the participants of the first formation of the police force of the Serb Republic BiH at the Bare stadium in Sokolac, told reporters that on this day in 1992, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Srpska, the forerunner of today's MOI, was founded.

He expressed his belief that this event should be mentioned more often because the Serb militia was formed before the Army of Republika Srpska and "was the first to defend the current borders and the people of the wider Romanija area and throughout Srpska".

Koroman told the politicians to harness all their knowledge and power, to hire smart people, to preserve Republika Srpska, the MOI and all other institutions.

Wreaths were laid at the Central Memorial in Sokolac by delegations from the Sokolac Police Station, authorized by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, the Veterans' Organization of Republika Srpska, the city of East Sarajevo, the municipalities of Sokolac, Pale, East Novo Sarajevo, the Veterans Organization of the Municipality of Sokolac and the Association of Veterans of the Republika Srpska Security Services and the East Sarajevo Branch.