MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR FIGHTER WHOSE REMAINS WERE IDENTIFIED MORE THAN THREE DECADES LATER

ŠAMAC, NOVEMBER 15 /SRNA/ - A memorial service was held today in Donja Slatina, near Šamac, for 12 victims of the Defensive-Patriotic War, including a fighter whose remains were identified more than three decades later.

Marinko Popović had been listed as missing since the war, and some of his remains had been kept in an ossuary in Banja Luka for years.

Radovan Zoranović, president of the Municipal Veterans' Organisation, said that three DNA analyses had been conducted to date and that Popović was identified following the latest one.

Zoranović explained that only the head had been recovered and that it was buried in the family grave.

The memorial service was also held for 10 other Serb fighters who were killed in battles during the Defensive-Patriotic War, as well as one civilian victim who lost their life in 1992.

Zoranović stressed that during the past war, the Serbs had defended their homes and ancestral lands, and that the sacrifices they made obliged us to preserve the memory of those who had fallen, as well as of Republika Srpska, which guarantees freedom in this region.

Following the memorial service, wreaths and flowers were laid by the families of the fallen fighters, representatives of the local Veterans' Organisation and the Donja Slatina local community, the Veterans' Organisation, local authorities, and others.