NUŽDIĆ: SERBS IN SRPSKA AND SERBIA SHARE BOTH HEROISM AND SUFFERING

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 4 /SRNA/ - Serbs in Republika Srpska and Serbia are one people who share both heroism and suffering, as demonstrated by the joint commemoration of the Day of Remembrance for all Serbs killed and expelled in the Croatian-Muslim pogrom against Serbs from Republika Srpska Krajina and Republika Srpska in 1995, attended by the leadership of Republika Srpska and Serbia, Acting Director of the Republic Centre for Research of War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons Viktor Nuždić.

"Although Republika Srpska Krajina no longer exists, it lives on in our memories and hearts for as long as we gather and preserve a culture of remembrance, honouring both it and the innocent victims who lost their lives," Nuždić told reporters in Banja Luka after laying wreaths at the Central Memorial to the Fallen Soldiers of the Defensive-Patriotic War.

President of the Information and Documentation Centre Veritas Savo Štrbac thanked the authorities of Republika Srpska and the city of Banja Luka for making it possible to erect the Central Memorial in the centre of Banja Luka, which also bears the names of around 5,500 soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska Krajina.

"During their lifetimes, they did not succeed in creating the same state and the same army, although that was their intention. That is why now, at this place, they are finally together — to remind us that in the future we must build unity, because only in that way can we defend ourselves," Štrbac said.

A Day of Mourning is being observed in Republika Srpska to mark the 31st anniversary of the suffering of Serbs in the Croatian military-police operation Storm, during which more than 1,904 Serbs were killed, and more than 220,000 were expelled from the areas of Banija, Lika, Kordun and northern Dalmatia.

In its February 2015 ruling, the International Court of Justice classified Storm as ethnic cleansing, but not as genocide, although international experts in that field claim that the operation had all the characteristics of genocide.