07.09.2019.
Communication
The delegation of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces has been banned from entering the Republic of Croatia today. As in the previous years, officers, non-commissioned officers, cadets and students set off to attend the ceremony marking the Day of Jasenovac New Martyrs. It was announced on time and according to the usual procedure that the delegation would attend the the ceremony at the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Jasenovac, beginning at 9 p.m.
The delegation of the Ministry of Defence was supposed to attend the ceremony at the official invitation from Bishop of Pakrac and Slavonia, Jovan Ćulibrk. According to the plan, the ceremony was to include service by Orthodox priests, and after the liturgy, the consecration of the holiday cake and wheat berries on the grave mound near the Stone Flower monument in the Jasenovac Memorial Complex. In violation of all moral and legal principles, the Republic of Croatia has prevented the official delegation of the Serbian Armed Forces from paying homage to the killed martyrs of Jasenovac. There is no justification or explanation for such violence.
Members of the delegation of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces were asked to get out of the vehicle, their belongings were searched and their passports were taken for additional scanning. According to the head of the delegation, Colonel Saša Milutinović, PhD, the 11-member delegation travelled in civilian clothes. Members of the border police of the Republic of Croatia conducted search of personal belongings of members of the delegation and noticed the service uniforms of the members of the delegation. They were informally told that they did not have the consent of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia to bring uniforms to Croatia.
The delegation of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces requested permission to enter Croatia without uniforms, to which a border police officer told them that they would not be allowed to enter that day. After that, they were not allowed entry, they were issued denials, which the delegation members refused to sign. The formal reason for the denial is “There is no adequate documentation to justify the purpose and conditions of their stay”.
The Ministry of Defence expresses its indignation at the shameful treatment by the authorities of the Republic of Croatia. Denial for attending the ceremony of paying homage to the killed Jasenovac martyrs means that the victims are not respected and their tragedy insults and is being hidden. Today, the Republic of Croatia disgraced itself and violated the memory of the Ustasha’s victims. To prevent paying homage to the Jasenovac children is to stand by their executioners. The Ministry of Defence expresses its indignation and requests an apology for the shameful treatment of the authorities of the Republic of Croatia.
