Dear Mr Darko Tomaš, Mayor of Prnjavor,
We are writing this letter in response to your media statement given to SRNA on 27 November 2024 where you claim that no war crimes were committed in the City of Prnjavor during the past war and that you see the activities of the Centre for Nonviolent Action as a provocation.
The sites we marked in the Prnjavor area are places where war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed, the facts of which have been established in valid and final judgements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia against Biljana Plavšić, Radoslav Brđanin, Mićo Stanišić, and Stojan Župljanin. In addition, the District Court in Banja Luka convicted Draže Lakić and Vladimir Budišić of war crimes committed in the Municipality of Prnjavor.
The Initiative to Mark Unmarked Sites of Suffering, which is supported by the Centre for Nonviolent Action Sarajevo – Belgrade, has over the past ten years marked more than 150 unmarked sites of suffering across BiH and Croatia, making no difference between victims and endeavouring to memorialise with dignity the suffering of victims of crimes committed in the past war.
More information is available on our website onms.nenasilje.org
We have visited almost all towns and local communities in BiH and set up our improvised memorial signs to indicate the crimes that were committed at those sites. These actions aim to break the vow of silence about these crimes and especially to counter the denial of war crimes which is widespread in BiH.
Our aim was not to provoke when we marked sites where the victims were Serbs (former Dobrovoljačka Street in Sarajevo, Bravnice near Jajce, Brčanska malta in Tuzla, “13th kilometre” in Kamenica near Zavidovići, former barracks in Čelebići near Konjic, etc.), just as it was not our aim to provoke when we came to honour the victims in Prnjavor.
Our activities aim towards constructive memorialisation and building a lasting and stable peace in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, based on justice when dealing with the past.
On behalf of the Initiative to Mark Unmarked Sites of Suffering the the Centre for Nonviolent Action Sarajevo-Belgrade,
Tamara Zrnović, Nenad Vukosavljević, Amer Delić, Dalmir Mišković, Čedomir Glavaš, Ivana Franović, Ajdin Kamber, Katarina Milićević, Nedžad Novalić, Radomir Radević and Davorka Turk.