VULIĆ: ONE IN A SERIES OF OUR ALTERS AND JUST STRUGGLES

SIJEKOVAC, MARCH 26 /SRNA/ - The envoy of the Republika Srpska President Sanja Vulić emphasized that "Sijekovac is one in a series of our altars, our just struggle, and the battle for survival in our ancestral homes".

"Therefore, on this occasion, we pay deep respect to the victims and their families, and we say that these victims do not allow us to forget, nor to falter in our fight for justice and our Republika Srpska," Vulić emphasized in Sijekovac near Brod, during the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the crime committed by Croatian forces against Serbian residents of this village.

Greeting all those present at the commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of this monstrous crime on behalf of the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik Vulić reminded that in the early spring, on this day in 1992, in the afternoon hours, units of the regular Croatian Army, the Croatian National Guard /ZNG/, and paramilitary formations of HOS crossed the Sava River and attacked the peaceful village, which never expected such evil.

"Nine people were ruthlessly killed at the doorstep of their homes, and the victims who were executed were thrown face-down on the ground. None of them was armed, nor did they offer any resistance. All were civilians, villagers, peacefully sitting in their homes, unaware of the evil that was about to befall them," emphasized Vulić.

She said that Jovo Zečević, Milan Zečević, Vaso Zečević, Petar Zečević, Mirko Radanović, Luka Milošević, Dragan Milošević, Željko Milošević, and Sreto Trivić had been killed on that day.

"Criminals continued their rampage by looting and setting 50 Serbian houses on fire. The remaining residents were imprisoned in the elementary school, which was a silent witness to brutal torture," she said.

She reminded that at least 11 more innocent civilians were brutally killed by the time Sijekovac was liberated in October 1992, and that the local church of the Fiery Mary was destroyed.

"Only one criminal was brought to justice for the crime in Sijekovac. Zemir Kovačević was sentenced by the anti-Serbian Court of BiH to ten years in prison for war crimes against civilians, the murder of two men, plunder, and torture," Vulić said.

She pointed out that Sijekovac is, in many ways, a paradigm of the BiH civil war of the 1990s - in terms of who the victim was and who the attacker, who the aggressor was and who was killed at their doorstep, and who was held accountable for the crimes, the incitement of hatred, and war, and the extent of the punishment they received.