ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT MILITARY COMMANDERS OF RSA HAS DIED

DOBOJ, AUGUST 27 /SRNA/ - Serbian General Ratko Mladić, one of the most prominent military commanders of the Republika Srpska Army, has died; he assumed command of the army during the most difficult years for the Serb people in BiH, the Doboj City Veterans’ Organization told SRNA.

Doboj veterans said they received the news of General Mladić’s death with deep pain and sorrow, recalling that under his command they defended their families, homes, and ancestral lands.

“General, may you be eternally honored and thanked for everything you did for your soldiers and your people,” the Doboj veterans said, stressing that, for them, General Mladić will remain part of their wartime journey and history.

For the Doboj City Veterans’ Organization, it remains difficult to accept that General Mladić, as a man and a human being, was not allowed to seek medical and humanitarian care in Republika Srpska or in a country willing to accept him, treat him, and take responsibility for his medical care.

“We believe that the issue of human dignity must not end where the enforcement of a court judgment begins. A sentence should not mean denying a person the right, in the most difficult moments of illness, to be with his family and receive medical treatment where it has been offered to him,” the Doboj veterans said.

They said they were particularly concerned by the fact that the request for a humanitarian transfer was rejected at a time when medical reports indicated that the general was in an extremely serious health condition, and when the very side holding him in detention was speaking of the final stage of his life.

The Doboj City Veterans’ Organization said it did not wish to interfere in legal proceedings or challenge court decisions, but believed it had the right to ask one question: “Was it necessary for the Republika Srpska Army general to spend his final days far from his family, in a detention hospital, when there was an opportunity for him to receive treatment in Serbia?”

The Doboj veterans said that the answer to this question would remain part of the history of how General Mladić was treated, but also serve as a reminder to everyone that humanity must come before politics, revenge, or any other interest.

“We extend our sincere condolences to the family of General Ratko Mladić, and express our deep respect to all members of the Republika Srpska Army who knew him and shared the wartime journey with him,” the Doboj City Veterans’ Organization said.

The Stanari Veterans’ Organization said that General Mladić would live on as long as his soldiers and Republika Srpska live, and that the memory of the historical circumstances surrounding the defence of Serb homes under his leadership would outlive all attempts to suppress the truth about those events.

They described General Mladić as an honorable officer and a great military commander who shared both the good and the bad with his soldiers and devoted his life to the survival of the Serb people.

Former commander of the Main Staff of the Republika Srpska Army, General Ratko Mladić, has died at the age of 83 in a detention hospital in The Hague, State Secretary at Serbia’s Ministry of Human and Minority Rights Lidija Pavićević told SRNA.

She said she had received the information from the general’s son, Darko Mladić.