Krsticevic awarded Ministerial Position for Crimes aganist Serbs |
Friday, 04 May 2018 | |
MRKONJIC GRAD, May 3 /SRNA/ - Chair of the Presidency of the Republika Srpska Veterans’ Association Dusko Miletic says no one has yet answered for the horrific crimes committed by the Croatian army against Serbs in Mrkonjic Grad in 1995, asserting that the fact that Damir Krsticevic, the commander of the 4th Guards Brigade which committed those crimes, has been appointed Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence sends a bad message.
“The 4th Guards Brigade and the 7th Brigade from Varazdin directly participated in the occupation of this area. This is where a brutal crime was committed. People were monstrously killed and tortured, which is proved by the autopsy reports made by pathologist Zoran Stankovic,” Miletic told Srna. Various killing methods were used, often with blunt objects, which gives those crimes a special magnitude, he said.
Miletic, who is also the chair of the Presidency of the Mrkonjic Grad Veterans’ Association, believes that the Prosecutor’s Office and Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not do anything to prosecute the crimes committed against Serbs.
“The BiH Prosecutor’s Office and Court are doing the same thing the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia did. It’s important to them to blame the highest percentage of Serbs for everything that happened in the 1990s war /to find around 70 or 75 per cent guilty/. One should not expect anything from the Prosecutor’s Office or the Court, and one should least expect the Croatian courts to prosecute their ministers,” said Miletic. Petar Mitric, who found his brother Dusko Mitric, 22, and two cousins Petar Mitric, 50, and Milorad Mitric, 50, in a mass grave, says the sight during the identification of victims was horrific because there were smashed skulls and burnt bodies. “Various objects were found in the cemetery used to torture the victims, such as handcuffs, rope, wire, gas tanks. I recognised my brother by the uniform and some specific details. I couldn’t recognise his face,” said Mitric. Even though it is painful, this has to be talked about because no one has yet been convicted for the monstrous crimes, he said. “Krsticevic commanded the 4th Guards Brigade which destroyed our town together with some other units. There is evidence and video footage. Instead of putting him in prison, he has been made minister of defence. I wonder who will ever be brought to justice for the massacre that happened here?” asked Mitric. He recalled that the case on the crime in Mrkonjic Grad was at the ICTY and that it was forwarded to the BiH Prosecutor’s Office but that nothing has been done regarding the matter yet. Members of the Croatian Defence Council /HVO/ and Croatian Army held Mrkonjic Grad under siege between October 10, 1995 and February 4, 1996. Croatian soldiers devastated the area, committed arson and left a mass grave behind them. After the war, it was found to contain 181 bodies of brutally killed Serb civilians and soldiers. Croatian troops withdrew from Mrkonjic Grad only on February 4, 1996, in accordance with the provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement, while an exhumation carried out by expert teams from Belgrade and Banjaluka occurred on April 1, 1996. A total of 181 bodies of Serb soldiers and civilians were exhumed from a big mass grave found in the Orthodox cemetery alone. Among them were 81 civilians, 97 members of the Army of Republika Srpska and three members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Among the bodies were 10 women, the eldest was 90 years old, and the youngest only seven. The autopsy indicated they had all been brutally tortured and killed. Another 176 victims were exhumed in local cemeteries. A total of 1,608 houses and 700 flats were destroyed in Mrkonjic Grad and the war damage was BAM680 million. Municipal representatives say they cannot file a lawsuit against the State of Croatia to claim the material damage until someone answers for the crimes against the Serb population. http://www.srna.rs/novosti/591306/krsticevic-awarded-ministerial-position-for-crimes-against-serbs.htm |
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