A peaceful walk with candles lit by some 200 survivors, the
families of those killed, representatives of associations of victims of
the Homeland War and delegations of Republika Srpska Government
institutions passed without incident.
The commemoration was attended by the Republika Srpska Minister of
Labour and Veterans Affairs, Petar Djokic, a number of MPs and Serbian
representatives in BiH institutions.
Two hundred white roses were placed at the spot of the crime at
Brcanska Malta and a religious ceremony was conducted by priests Milan
Gavrilovic and Radisa Jokic of Bijeljina.
Goran Jokic was killed when he was 19; his bones from the charred Tuzla convoy his mother Mara buried in 2007.
“I have been without him more than with him, but I miss him more
every day. I miss his face and my unborn grandchildren. Barren are
family celebrations without him, and the family property now is as
though a desert,” his mother Mara says.
Ranko Lazic also was 19 when he was killed, and his mother Zivana
found fragments of his charred bones just last year. He was buried in a
common grave at the Pucile cemetery in Bijeljina.
Milenko Vujanovic visits Brcanka Malta only once a year, on this
day, under police escort, to light a candle for his killed brother
Cvijetin, the youngest of five brothers.
Cvijetin was an officer, 25 years old when he was killed, as are his two sons now, one of whom is also a military officer.
With shaking hands, Milenko shows how a 13-cm long femur was laid in
the grave, which they say it was proven by DNA analysis to belong to
his brother.
“The hardest thing for the families of the Serbian victims is that
they cannot light candles and grieve for those killed and torched in the
Tuzla convoy in privacy. Since the sorrow is that which always anew
marks the crimes for which no one has been punished,” Milenko says.
The commemoration for the JNA soldiers will resume with a
commemorative service at the Pucile cemetery in Bijeljina, where wreaths
will be placed at a memorial ossuary, after which officials will
address those present.
On this day 21 years ago, the Muslims attacked a JNA convoy
withdrawing from Tuzla and killed from ambush over 54 soldiers and
wounded 44.
The crime in Dobrovoljacka Street was committed only 12 days after
the like attack in Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo, where paramilitary
Muslim forces, Green Berets, the Patriotic League and the BiH
Territorial Defence killed 42 JNA soldiers withdrawing from the city
under guarantees of safe passage.
(Srna/Frontal)
