ČAVIĆ: PLAVŠIĆ'S LIFE INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO MOST DIFFICULT YEARS OF SERB PEOPLE

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 7 /SRNA/ - Former Republika Srpska President Dragan Čavić said that, in the case of Biljana Plavšić, it is not possible to speak only of the death of a woman, but of the end of a life that was inextricably linked to the most difficult years of the Serb people in BiH at the end of the 20th century.

"Plavšić was among the courageous people who, in a difficult period, assumed responsibility for the Serb people in BiH," Čavić said in an address at Banski Dvor during a memorial ceremony marking the death of former Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavšić.

He said that Republika Srpska was established during that period as the political response of a people who believed their survival was threatened and that they needed their own institutions in which they could decide on their own future.

"Plavšić is part of this history, and therefore, as a Serb, I cannot accept the exclusivity and blindness of all those who reduce her entire life to a single unfortunate verdict," Čavić said.

Čavić said he did not want to accept that the tragic past of the late 20th century be treated as a one-sided truth in which supposedly only one side was guilty while the others were the "only victims," because Serbs also have an obligation to the truth.

He noted that Plavšić suffered during the years she spent in a foreign prison, as did all the key Serbs whom history tasked, during the turbulent and difficult times of the breakup of former Yugoslavia, with seeking a political solution for the Serbs, particularly those from BiH.

Journalist Mira Lolić-Močević said that Biljana Plavšić had entered Serbian history as the first woman to serve as President of Republika Srpska.

"Plavšić had a Christian worldview, while she demonstrated dignity, intellect and strength through her work. Republika Srpska and the Serb people were always her top priority," Lolić-Močević stressed.

The highest officials of Republika Srpska had previously signed the book of condolences.

A funeral service for Plavšić will be held at 12:00 at the Church of the Holy Trinity, while the funeral will take place at 13:00 at Sveti Pantelija Cemetery, with full honors.

Biljana Plavšić died on October 1 in Belgrade at the age of 96. She was a Serbian politician, university professor and doctor of biological sciences, a member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska and the Serb member of the Presidency of the former Socialist Republic of BiH.

In Republika Srpska, she was one of its two vice-presidents until September 14, 1996, when, under pressure from the international community, Radovan Karadžić transferred presidential powers to her. She was elected President of Republika Srpska in that year's elections.