On December 28th, the Serbian Ministry of Defense awardedconvicted war criminal Vinko Pandurevic.
The Ministry of Defense of Serbia announced that this award was presented to him by the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army, Milan Mojsilovic. As a reason for it, ie. handing over the military award, is the contribution in the “defense against NATO aggression” on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Pandurevic was the commander of the Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska (RS) Army. Six years ago, the Hague tribunal sentenced him to 13 years in prison for war crimes against Bosniaks in the Srebrenica area, shortly after July 11th, 1995.
His request to be released from prison has been met, as he has served 75 percent of his sentence. In support of his request, he also noted that he apologized for the crimes committed. He was released from prison in April 2015.
There were also reactions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to the decision for Serbia to honor Pandurevic. Among others, the president of the People’s European Alliance (NES) reacted, saying that this was an “obvious message” and that everything else was a lie, starting with messages from Belgrade that Serbia respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH.
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba