MILJA ZEČEVIĆ DIES, SYMBOL OF SUFFERING OF SERB CIVILIANS AT BEGINNING OF WAR IN BiH

BROD, NOVEMBER 7 /SRNA/ - Milja Zečević, whose husband and three sons were murdered before her eyes by criminals in March 1992 in Sijekovac, near Brod, died this morning at the age of 95.

Milja Zečević died in the yard of her home, at the very spot where members of the Croatian Defense Council /HVO/, the Croatian Army, and paramilitary formations killed her sons and husband, Brod Mayor Milan Zečević told SRNA.

Zečević said he had received the news of the passing of Milja Zečević with profound sadness, describing her life story as a wound shared by the entire town of Brod.

"In the horrific crime in Sijekovac, she lost her loved ones and endured a sacrifice that is almost beyond human comprehension. For decades, she bore her pain quietly and with dignity, becoming a symbol of a mother's grief and the suffering of our people," Zečević said.

He extended his condolences to the family on his own behalf and on behalf of the Municipality of Brod. "May she rest in peace, finally reunited in the embrace of her loved ones. Eternal glory to her," Zečević said.

The funeral service will be held on Monday, November 9, at 11:00 a.m. at the town cemetery in Brod, and the burial will take place at 1:00 p.m. the same day in Gornji Smrtići, near Prnjavor, where the remains of her sons and husband are buried. Her fourth son, who survived the massacre in Sijekovac, is also buried there.

In her earlier testimony to the Republika Srpska Memorial Centre, Milja Zečević recounted that a group of men wearing stockings over their faces entered their yard on March 26, 1992.

"Her husband and three sons were beaten one after another by the attackers and eventually executed," Zečević said at the time.

She testified that she watched as her eldest son was killed by the water fountain, her middle son at the gate, and her youngest son in the yard. She believed the killers were their neighbours because they were wearing stockings over their faces.

"They beat them one by one, questioned them, and then beat them again. I was there. After they killed them, they drove me away down the road, and I eventually went all the way to Smrtići," Zečević recounted.

Milja Zečević was a recipient of the Order of Miloš Obilić.