Brcko Supervisor Dr Raffi Gregorian attended the burial of 47 civilian victims of the war from Brcko, that was held in Brcko today, on 14 June 2008, to pay tribute to the victims, to mourn with the families, and to express his deep felt condolences.
The victims were exhumed in autumn 2006 from a secondary mass grave in Gorice. This is the second burial following the difficult and still on-going process of identification of all the bodies exhumed. When he visited the grave site in November 2006, he condemned the murders of these victims, but also the subsequent reburial into a secondary grave, which was deliberately intended to rob the victims of their identity and cause further pain to their loved ones.
The Supervisor strongly reiterated OHR’s and his personal determination to ensure that those responsible for such crimes are brought to justice, especially the remaining fugitive ICTY indictees Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
“The International Community is aware of the responsibility that we all have towards the victims and their families, and so should be the governments and institutions of all the countries involved. The recent arrest of Stojan Zupljanin shows that by working together with the international community, local partners committed to the rule of law can bring these genocidal murderers to justice,” said Supervisor Gregorian.
“While the pain of loss will not lessen, the identification and dignified burial of these victims will at least help bring closure for those who mourn them. May they rest in peace,” Gregorian concluded.