Full 19 sad years will be completed tomorrow since the suffering of the priest family Starovlah, who were brutally beaten on the night between March 31 and April 1, 2004 in Pale, and the thugs – members of SFOR never received the deserved punishment for the crime against Serbian civilians .
“The brutal attack on the priest Jeremija and his family was not only a personal attack on him, but on the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people, to whom the rulers of that time made it clear that they could, like their historical predecessors, do whatever they wanted with the Serbs, and that they are not responsible for it,” sociologist Vladimir Vasić from East Sarajevo told Srna.
According to him, this shameful act showed all the brutality and insensitivity of the military unit in charge of “implementation of peace” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shamelessly, he points out, all military and human principles were violated, considering the degree of force used on bare-handed people who were savagely attacked in their home.
“On the other hand, a lie about some kind of democracy and human rights, which, mind the irony, should be implemented by the people who bombed the Serbian people with depleted uranium!? Where are the mighty Democrats? Did the human rights fighters remain cowardly? Activists whose mouths are full of “international law” and justice hid in mouse holes,” Vasić points out.
He notes that, not only with this act but also with a series of others, international law was trampled, democracy was buried, the struggle for justice and fairness was pushed aside, and that by people who declare themselves as peacemakers.
Vasić believes that the attack on Starovlah is another in a series of examples that BiH is a country where statehood is shamelessly trampled on.
“BiH today, unfortunately, resembles a dispossessed, ashamed, rejected, bottomless ruin. Those who swear by it allowed it to become a training ground for
military-political experiments. It is a country where even today the international factor has the last word. If this is democracy, then why is it not implemented in such a way in Germany, France, Great Britain?” asks Vasić.
In his opinion, if democracy is to beat priest Jeremias and his son Alexander almost to death, if democracy is to kill Rada Abazović in Rogatica on the eve of Orthodox Christmas, if democracy is violent behavior, if military dignity is to terrorize civilians and frighten children – then one should ask how what were the names of some ideologies against which the Serbs also fought and bled the most?
“Today, we almost don’t know about this event, especially the younger generation. They couldn’t see that on “Instagram”. It’s not viral on “Tik-Tok”. But I don’t blame them. Because they won’t learn these lessons in historical textbooks,” says Vasić.
The lawyer of the Starovlah family, Miljkan Pucar, previously told Srna that this tragic event has been concluded by the court, but that there is no fair compensation for physical and mental pain. Financial compensation for non-material damage was paid by BiH, not SFOR.
He recalled that at that time the Scottish members of SFOR beat the priest Jeremia and his son Alexander, who has been 100% disabled since then, almost to death, also mistreating his wife and mother Vitorka.
Prota Miomir Zekić, the former elder of the temple of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Pale, previously told Srna that no one had ever told him or his fellow priests why this terrible attack on innocent people, priests and members of the Serbian Orthodox Church had taken place. their families.
On October 1, 2010, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina partially accepted the claim of Jeremija, Aleksandar and Vitorka Starovlah, and decided that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be awarded to the Starovlah family, which was brutally attacked by members of SFOR on the night between March 31 and April 1, 2004 in Pale. , pays slightly more than 300,000 KM in compensation.
The court then rejected the requests of the Starovlah family for damages in the name of mental pain suffered due to damage to private property, home and impunity of the perpetrators, in the name of destroyed things, as well as help and care for Jeremia.
On March 28, 2007, the members of the Starovlah family, as plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit against BiH in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for damages.
They then stated that on April 1, 2004, around 1:10 a.m., members of SFOR used explosives to break down the front door of the Parochial Home in Pale, where the Zekić and Starovlah families lived in two apartments.
Then they broke into the apartment of the Starovlah family, and with hard objects and mechanical tools, they inflicted severe, life-threatening physical injuries on the priest Jeremias and his son Alexander, which left lasting health consequences.
Vitorka Starovlah, the wife of the priest Jeremije, suffered difficult psychological moments that caused her strong mental pain and fear, because she was not allowed to help her son and husband, and later she expressed fear for their lives and recovery, and concern about how her son would Aleksandar to continue his life with the consequences.
SFOR members took Aleksandar and Jeremija, seriously injured and unconscious, by helicopter to the Clinical Center in Tuzla, where they received emergency medical assistance, and later continued treatment at the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade and recovery in rehabilitation centers.
On November 16, 2004, they addressed the Command of NATO forces in Sarajevo with a request for compensation, which was rejected on January 19, 2005, with the explanation that “there is no basis for compensation, because it was a military action.”
(www.palelive.com / Srna)
