OSTOJIĆ: GENERAL MLADIĆ - HERO WHO SHOULD BE REMEMBERED FOREVER

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 27 /SRNA/ — Radan Ostojić, Minister of Labor and Veterans and Disability Protection of Republika Srpska, has said in a statement to SRNA today that General Ratko Mladić was a hero and heroic figure whom the Serbian people must remember forever.

"A man has died without whom Republika Srpska and freedom would not exist, and without whom our children today would not be able to attend school freely, learn the Cyrillic alphabet, and celebrate their family patron saint's day," Ostojić stressed.

He noted that for every participant in the Defensive-Patriotic War who had Mladić as his commander, his death was one of the saddest pieces of news, comparable to losing an immediate family member.

Ostojić pointed out that what General Mladić did for the Serb people and Republika Srpska must not be forgotten, reminding that he commanded the Army of Republika Srpska during the Defensive-Patriotic War.

According to Ostojić, Mladić's suffering encompasses not only the war years and family tragedies, but also everything he experienced after the war - his arrest, transfer and detention in The Hague, as well as illness and suffering.

Ostojić called for unity and solidarity among the Serbian people, saying that the death of a man who, in his words, gave everything for the Serbian people should bring Serbs together.

"Everything that happens in the coming days must be directed toward the solidarity and unity of the Serbian people, so that we may receive the General, bury him, and bid him farewell with dignity," Ostojić said.

He said that General Mladić’s grave should become a place of pilgrimage visited by the entire Serbian people, and that his role should be discussed with future generations.

"If we know how to value and preserve our history, and if we persist in speaking about it regardless of the consequences, we will live in freedom and in Republika Srpska," Ostojić said.

He expressed hope that the Serbian people would understand that unity and solidarity are priceless, and that the remembrance and stories of heroes must endure, because only this can preserve the Serbs and the freedom that has been proclaimed as the greatest value since the Battle of Kosovo.

Former Commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska, General Ratko Mladić, died in a detention hospital in The Hague at the age of 83, Lidija Pavićević, State Secretary at Serbia's Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, said in a statement to SRNA.