NOSOVIĆ: AMERICAN INVESTIGATOR-PROSECUTORS TO ARRIVE IN DERVENTA ON JULY 20

BANJA LUKA, JULY 20 /SRNA/ - Five American investigator-prosecutors are expected to arrive in Derventa on Monday, July 20, to take statements from eight former camp inmates about the horrors they endured in the notorious camp for Serbs located at the Rabić military warehouse in 1992, the president of the Alliance of Former Camp Inmates of Republika Srpska Anđelko Nosović told SRNA.

Nosović stressed that they would prove the truth about the crimes committed against Serbs in Derventa and the surrounding area by individuals who had presented themselves in the United States and other Western countries as innocent people who had not participated in the war, but had instead been victims of Serb aggression.

He added that the American administration had learned that these individuals had lied, falsely represented themselves, and had committed war crimes against Serbs.

Nosović stated that, thanks to the persistence of the Alliance of Former Camp Inmates of Republika Srpska and Drago Knežević, president of the Derventa Alliance of Former Camp Inmates, they had managed to reach the United States and identify individuals who had committed war crimes against captured Serbs in Derventa and the surrounding area during the last war.

"The Alliance of Former Camp Inmates of Republika Srpska does not want the crimes committed against Serbs to be reduced to condemnation and the stereotypical statement that crimes were committed and that no one was held accountable. We are striving to ensure that these crimes are uncovered and that those responsible are brought to justice," Nosović emphasized.

He pointed out that the Alliance of Former Camp Inmates has for years been working to prove the truth about the suffering of the Serb people during the war in BiH and is seeking to ensure that all those who committed war crimes against the Serb people are brought to justice.

According to him, for years Serb former camp inmates have been proving before courts in BiH and abroad the suffering endured by the Serb people, pointing to the direct perpetrators of war crimes, namely the torture and abuse of camp inmates and the Serb population.

He stressed that Serbs must never forget the crimes committed against the Serb people during the last war.

"The Alliance of Former Camp Inmates will continue to search for those who killed and tortured us. Thanks to the persistence of the Alliance and our former camp inmates, we have reached the point where American investigator-prosecutors are coming to Derventa to see for themselves what happened in this area," Nosović said.

He stressed that the arrival of the American investigators in Derventa would not be merely symbolic, but would result in the extradition of criminals from the United States to BiH.

He expressed hope that the Court of BiH would not acquit them and "wash the crimes from their hands" as had happened in the past.

Croatian and Muslim forces attacked the local Serb population during the Defensive-Patriotic War in BiH, in Derventa, before the Army of Republika Srpska had even been formed.

Camps for Serbs were established, the most notorious of which were located at the Army Hall and at the Rabić site. In the Rabić camp, established in April 1992, 120 Serbs were detained, while several hundred Serb civilians passed through the camps in the Derventa area overall.