TRIBUTE PAID TO SOLDIERS BRUTALLY KILLED IN ČAKLE

ISTOČNA ILIDŽA, OCTOBER 6 /SRNA/ - A memorial service was held today at the Church of St. Peter of Sarajevo in Vojkovići for 21 soldiers of the Second Sarajevo Light Infantry Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army who were treacherously killed 32 years ago in the village of Čakle, in the Federation of BiH municipality of Trnovo.

The Serb soldiers were killed in their sleep in a UN-protected zone during a ceasefire, and no one has been prosecuted for the crime.

Saša Škobo, president of the Ilidžanski Borac Veterans' Organization, said that those killed at Čakle included two nurses, as well as members of a rear unit responsible for clearing and maintaining roads.

"They were attacked in a UN-protected zone early in the morning and brutally killed. Several people survived. No one has ever been prosecuted for this crime. The only thing we can do is remember these people because this was certainly one of the saddest days in the history of the 2nd Sarajevo Brigade during the war, when 21 soldiers were killed in a single day," Škobo told reporters in Istočna Ilidža.

Škobo said that the Ilidžanski Borac Veterans' Organization has been trying for years to build a memorial at Čakle, but that the Federation authorities have been obstructing the effort.

"In recent years, we have considered putting up the memorial somewhere in the territory of Republika Srpska. I suggested that it be somewhere along the inter-entity boundary line, around Krupac," Škobo said.

President of the Trnovo Municipal Assembly Siniša Golijanin said that the saddest thing was that, even after 32 years, no one had been held accountable for this crime.

"I consider this one of the biggest failures of the BiH courts and prosecutors' office. We will demand that representatives of the Serb people in the joint institutions raise the issue of this and all other crimes, of which there are many in the Trnovo municipality alone, in an effort to see justice served in some way — something that has not been the case so far," Golijanin said.

He said that Trnovo suffered enormous losses, both in human lives and infrastructure, and that the consequences are still being felt today.

Nebojša Minić, the son of fallen soldier Momir Minić, said that memories of the suffering remain difficult and painful.

"I was stationed in Mahovljani, and that evening I watched a television report when I saw a charred body on a stretcher. Only later did I find out that it was my father. The worst thing is that it was a treacherous crime committed against them. May it never happen again," Minić said.

Following the memorial service, a visit to Čakle was also organized, where family members of the Serb victims and representatives of the Ilidžanski Borac Veterans' Organization laid flowers and wreaths and lit candles at the site of the killings.

Members of the so-called Army of BiH violated the ceasefire on October 6, 1994, and at around 5:00 a.m. attacked a tent housing the command section, engineering unit, and medical personnel of the Second Sarajevo Light Infantry Brigade.

In the Trnovo municipality, 121 soldiers and 101 civilians gave their lives defending Republika Srpska.