Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of war crimes in the Bradina village, near the central town of Konjic, where 48 Serb civilians were killed in the most brutal way, a large number of them were expelled and taken to camps, while this one and surrounding villages were burned.

Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik said at the commemoration for the Bradina victims that the Neretva river valley is a place of “pain and loud silence that still resonates today, 30 years later, as it did on May 25, 1992, when a terrible massacre of innocent Serb civilians, including children, was committed in Bradina.”

“Criminals carried out ethnic cleansing in Bradina and surrounding villages, Konjic and the Neretva valley, criminals carried out ethnic cleansing,” said Dodik, accusing the “Muslim-Croat paramilitary formations” of the crime and noting that only the ice marble monument and the renovated temple testify that the Serbs lived in that area.

Therefore, Dodik pointed out, wherever the Serbs are, they should and must remember, testify and preserve the memory of their innocent ancestors every day, in every place.

“It is our sacred duty for the sake of the present and the future, for the sake of our ancestors, and especially our descendants. We must talk about our history of suffering, because we will be guilty if these tragic events are forgotten. We must not allow that, because we are already witnessing the rewriting of history, where only the Serbs are accused of a crime. There is no justice for them today,” he noted.

Bradina, which used to be inhabited by a majority Serb population prior to the 1992-95 Bosnian war, was attacked on May 25, 1992. 48 Serb civilians were killed on that day, while the rest were taken to camps or expelled, their property was looted, while their houses and the Church of the Ascension were set on fire and demolished. Mass grave was located next to the church, on the site where the memorial was built.

Another 22 residents of Bradina were killed in the Musale and Celebici camps.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted three people for the crimes – Esad Landzo, Zdravko Mucic and Hazim Delic.