prijava
SARAJEVO, May 31 (FENA) - When the conscience of witnesses was awakened and the Tomašica mass grave was discovered, the world once again saw the entire scope of the criminal mind in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992-1995, said today the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nermin Nikšić, on the occasion of the White Armband Day which cherishes the memory of the victims of mass war crimes committed in Prijedor.
"If we go to Zecovi, a settlement in Prijedor, we will meet the surviving returnees living in the houses next to the executioners. They pass by those who killed their family members. Actually, we are just trying to understand what is the strength with which mother Hava Tatarević lives after her six sons had been murdered. Today, Hava watches the graves of her sons from her terrace," reminds Nikšić.
At the same time, he states that the city of Prijedor is known as a city/concentration camp, reminding of the concentration camps of Keraterm, Omarska, Trnopolje where more than 30,000 people were tortured, beaten, starved, humiliated and traumatized by the horrors in those camps.
"Three thousand and seventy-six innocent civilians of Prijedor were murdered. One hundred and two children. None of them have a monument in Prijedor today. Instead, on May 30, the 'Day of the defense of Prijedor against Muslims and Croats' is celebrated," says the FBiH PM Nikšić.
In this context, he points out that attacks on returnees, glorification of war crimes and insults, intimidation, and highlighting of criminal symbols are a message to returnees, "and it's hard to live like that."
"It is unfortunate that despite numerous war crimes convictions, individual and command responsibility, and despite the fact that the criminals mostly admitted their guilt, in Prijedor even today, after 31 years, there is no substantial confrontation with the past," says Nikšić.
Furthermore, he warns that "today we should remember the shameful orders of the Prijedor Crisis Staff from May 31, 1992, which ordered the hanging of white sheets on houses and apartments, and the order of wearing white armbands for the non-Serb population."
"The white armbands are their civilizational shame, their determination with which, instead of victims, they actually marked themselves. Our duty is to remain steadfast in our remembrance," said Nikšić.
(FENA) S. R.
