THE VERDICT AGAINST VOJIN PAVLOVIĆ - A DEFEAT FOR DEMOCRACY AND A DISGRACE FOR THE JUDICIARY

BRATUNAC, November 29 /SRNA/ - The verdict sentencing the President of the "Eastern Alternative" Association of Republika Srpska, Vojin Pavlović, to three and a half years in prison under the imposed "Inzko law" represents a defeat for democracy and a disgrace for the judiciary, it was stated today at a gathering of support held for Pavlović in Kravica near Bratunac.

President of the Veterans' Organization of Republika Srpska /BORS/, Radan Ostojić, said that it is the duty of veterans and Serbs to support a man who was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for verbal offence, while perpetrators of numerous crimes against the Serb population were never punished with such sentences.

"We are here out of solidarity with Vojin and his family, but also in protest and indignation over the actions of the Court of BiH," Ostojić stated.

He stressed that democratic principles, which Europe often invokes, are being violated, because Serbs are being prohibited from speaking and presenting the truth about their suffering.

Ostojić added that Serbs are once again being prevented from stating the facts - that they fought for their homes, their freedom, and the right to live where their ancestors lived for more than 600 years.

"We will continue to fight and will not allow our freedom to be taken from us," Ostojić emphasized.

He said that future generations must know who killed the 3,267 Serbs from the Birač region, commemorated by the memorial in Kravica, and why no one was held accountable.

President of the Organization of Families of Captured and Killed Fighters and Missing Civilians of Srebrenica, Branimir Kojić, said that today's gathering was organized to support Pavlović and his family, as he was convicted for “verbal offence,” namely for a birthday greeting - which he called disgraceful and shameful.

"If today you congratulate the birthday of a Serb general or the President of Republika Srpska, the Court of BiH sentences you to 3.5 years in prison, while Naser Orić walks free and was never held accountable for the mass crime committed against Serbs in Kravica on Christmas in 1993," Kojić stated, asking how such injustice is not an absurdity and a disgrace.

He also recalled the case of Vehid Dedić, a councillor in the Bratunac Municipal Assembly, who boasted about participating in crimes in Kravica, yet was never prosecuted.

"Dedić was a member of the 'El Mujahid' detachment and publicly said that Kravica was taken 'with heart' and that he was ready to slaughter even a Serb child of 'two kilos'. Despite this, the judiciary does not react, and he remains free even though he poses a threat," Kojić stressed.

He said this proves that the Court of BiH was created to demonize and destroy Serbs, and called on the institutions of Republika Srpska to urgently initiate procedures to protect its citizens from such judicial persecution.

Mladen Pavlović, Vojin's son, said the verdict is shameful for a state such as BiH and for its judicial system.

"Verbal offence trials existed only in communist states and certain regimes, yet my father has been tried for verbal offence in what is claimed to be a democratic BiH," Mladen noted.

Zoran Milanović, a demobilized Serb veteran from Kravica, asked the BiH judiciary who has been held accountable for Kravica, for Podrinje, and for the killing of more than 1,500 Serb civilians - and why no one has been prosecuted or convicted.