STEVANOVIĆ: HONOR SERB VICTIMS KILLED ON ST. PETER'S DAY AND ENSURE SUCH TRAGEDIES ARE NEVER REPEATED

SREBRENICA, JULY 12 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska Minister of Transport and Communications Zoran Stevanović has said today in the village of Zalazje near Srebrenica, where the 34th anniversary of the killing of 69 Serb civilians and soldiers by Muslim forces was commemorated, that the victims must never be forgotten and that such suffering must never happen again to anyone, anywhere.

"We should remember these victims with respect. They must never be forgotten," Stevanović said.

He stressed the importance of preserving peace and Republika Srpska while building a better future for its citizens.

"Srebrenica is included in projects financed by the Republika Srpska Government. We allocated funds for the reconstruction of the road from Srebrenica to Zalazje, which was completed in recent days, so that people can return to their properties or at least visit the cemeteries. Other projects are also planned," Stevanović says.

The 34th anniversary of the deaths of 69 Serb civilians and soldiers was marked today in Zalazje near Srebrenica. According to the report, they were killed on St. Peter's Day in 1992 in the villages of Sase and Zalazje in the Srebrenica municipality and Biljača and Zagoni in the Bratunac municipality by members of Muslim forces.

Continuing a systematic and planned campaign of ethnic cleansing that began in April 1992, Muslim forces from Srebrenica under the command of Naser Orić entered several Serb villages in the Srebrenica and Bratunac municipalities on July 12, 1992, killing residents, looting property and burning homes.

In addition to the 69 Serb civilians and soldiers killed and many others wounded, 22 Serbs went missing on St. Peter's Day in 1992. According to the report, the remains of 10 of them were accidentally discovered and exhumed from a mass grave in Zalazje in 2011 during the search for Bosniak victims.