NUŽDIĆ: SRPSKA NOT SEEKING REVENGE, BUT TRUTH AND JUSTICE FOR BRADINA

BANJA LUKA, MAY 25 /SRNA/ - Acting Director of the Republic Research Centre on War, War Crimes and Tracing Missing Persons Viktor Nuždić has stated today that Republika Srpska is not seeking revenge but rather truth and justice for the crime committed against Serbs in Bradina, near Konjic, more than three decades ago.

“What hurts even more is that justice has not yet been fully served. Only a few of those responsible have been prosecuted, while many still live freely, and the families of the victims keep waiting for the truth and recognition of their suffering,” Nuždić told SRNA, emphasizing that Bradina is a reminder that silence is complicity, and forgetting is a second death.

He pointed out that for this reason, the crime has been documented in the Atlas of Crimes against Serbs in the Defensive - Patriotic War, published by the Republic Research Centre on War, War Crimes and Tracing Missing Persons.

Nuždić recalled that the village of Bradina, near Konjic, predominantly inhabited by Serbs, was attacked and burned in May 1992, and its residents were subjected to brutal violence.

He stated that members of the so-called Army of BiH, supported by local and paramilitary units, entered the village on May 25 and 26, 1992, and carried out an attack on civilians.

Nuždić stressed that, according to data from the Republic Research Centre on War, War Crimes and Tracing Missing Persons, at least 38 villagers - including women, children, and the elderly - were killed in particularly cruel manner during the attack, and the killings continued even after the initial attack.

“Many men were taken to prison camps in Čelebići and Musala, where they were subjected to torture, humiliation, and abuse. Women and children were not spared either. Several hundred women and children were detained in Konjic, many imprisoned Serb women were raped,” Nuždić said.

According to him, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord, the heart and symbol of the community , was burned and desecrated, family homes were reduced to ashes, and many who tried to flee were intercepted and killed.

A commemoration will be held today in Bradina, near Konjic, to mark 33 years since the destruction and burning of this and surrounding villages, where members of Muslim and Croat forces brutally killed 48 Serb civilians.