Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Bećirović sent a message to the public on the occasion of the celebration of May 31, the Day of White Ribbons, saying that today we remember another sad date in our history, his office announced.
“We celebrate the Day of White Ribbons and pay tribute to the 3,176 killed citizens of Prijedor, among whom are 102 children. These innocent human lives were extinguished in the cruelest possible way. We must spread the truth about the committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Bećirović and added:
“The Prijedor authorities ordered the Bosniak and Croat population to mark their houses with white sheets, and to wear white armbands when moving around the city. This kind of discriminatory and criminal policy has not been recorded in the history of Europe after the Second World War.”
Bećirović emphasized that all democratic societies are obliged to nurture a culture of remembrance and resolutely oppose any attempt to deny, relativize or justify war crimes.
It is our obligation, he stated, to build a society in which truth, justice and human dignity will be respected.
“We must leave a clear message to future generations that war crimes and crimes against humanity must never and anywhere be repeated. Remembering the victims of Prijedor is our moral obligation to those killed, their families and surviving victims. It is also the civilizing duty of all who believe in human rights, human dignity and the universal values of freedom and equality,” said Bećirović.
The Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Denis Bećirović, emphasized that the truth about the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Prijedor has been established before international and domestic courts, and that it cannot be the subject of political manipulation, according to the statement.
