FILIPOVIĆ: INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC JUDICIARY REMAIN SILENT ON SERB VICTIMS

BRATUNAC, JANUARY 5 /SRNA/ - The President of the Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians of Bratunac Radojka Filipović emphasized that Kravica is a symbol of Serb suffering in the 20th century, and that both international and domestic judicial institutions remain silent when it comes to prosecuting crimes committed against Serbs.

She stressed that crimes must not go unpunished and that perpetrators must not move freely if peace, coexistence, and tolerance are to be achieved in BiH.

"Throughout the entire 20th century, there was a genocidal intent for Serbs to disappear from these areas. The very fact that Kravica was attacked on the greatest Orthodox holiday, Christmas, speaks in favor of that," Filipović told reporters in Kravica, where she attended a memorial service for Serbs killed in this Bratunac village.

She said that Serbs were killed indiscriminately at that time, and that among the victims were her grandmother Krstina Erić /79/, who was immobile, and her husband Negoslav /81/, Mara Božić /84/, as well as children Vladimir Gajić /5/, Biljana Nikolić /7/, Mikajlo Pavlović /12/, and Zorica Božić /12/.

According to her, Kravica was looted and burned for two and a half months, and on March 24, when it was liberated, a horrific scene was found - in addition to 49 killed, there were 86 wounded, around 700 Serb houses were burned, churches and cemeteries were desecrated, and all Serb property was destroyed.

"Not a single house was left standing, bodies were everywhere, and remains were incomplete. Seven Serbs went missing that day; five are still being searched for, two of whom are women," she said.

Filipović stated that the Kravica case has never seen the light of day in terms of an indictment, despite Serb testimonies that participants in the massacre openly boasted about what they had done to Serbs on Christmas Day in 1993.

She emphasized that the judiciary is not doing its job, which represents another crime - this time in peacetime - against Serbs, and that the BiH Missing Persons Institute is also failing in its role by covering up crimes committed in this area.

"We will speak about crimes against Serbs, not only in Kravica, every day of the year," she said.

Today, 33 years have passed since the major suffering of Serbs in the Bratunac village of Kravica.

A memorial service was held for 163 Serbs from this village and surrounding hamlets who were killed in the Defensive-Patriotic War, 49 of whom were killed by Muslim forces from Srebrenica on January 7, 1993.