Dear Friends,
Please find below a media release containing a video link to the memorial ceremony held on Saturday May 30, 2009 on the tenth anniversary of NATO's killing of ten civilians on the bridge at Varvarin in central Serbia. At the bottom of the media release there is a URL address link to a high-definition video file of the event that you can copy and paste into your Web browser to download the video. You are free to broadcast and circulate the video link at no charge. Sincerely, John Bosnitch MEDIA NEWS RELEASE (with VIDEO) Issued May 30, 2009 The BELGRADE FORUM for a WORLD OF EQUALS NEVER FORGET! May 30, 1999-2009 Memorial: 10 years since NATO’s killing of 10 civilians in Varvarin, Serbia Thousands citizens of the town of Varvarin and others from across Serbia gathered for a memorial service marking the tenth anniversary of the unprovoked attack by NATO bombers on May 30, 1999 on civilians walking on the main bridge in the area. The NATO attack on the bridge over the Great Morava River close to Varvarin, central Serbia, killed ten people and wounded dozens. Among the dead were Sanja Milenkovic, a gifted 15-year-old student enrolled in the special Mathematics High School in Belgrade, as well as the priest of the local Serbian Orthodox Church, Father Milivoje. The memorial ceremony on Saturday, May 30, 2009, drew crowds of relatives and friends of the victims, as well as church leaders and the general public. Hundreds of youths and school students also participated, along with artists from Varvarin and nearby Krusevac who performed a special program. The monument dedicated to the victims was covered with the flowers of dozens of wreaths presented by family members, as well as by government, army, and local authorities and civic associations, including representatives of the Serbian Diaspora from Germany, Great Britain and other countries. Religious ceremonies were led by the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Sumadija region, Bishop Jovan, who was the first to speak in a series of speeches that included addresses by Varvarin Mayor Zoran Milenkovic, the father of the late Sanja Milenkovic, and former Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs Zivadin Jovanovic, among others. Jovanovic, who chairs the nongovernmental Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, called it the utmost moral duty of every Serb and of every citizen of Serbia to honor the memory of the victims of NATO’s aggression. “Killing peaceful people on the Morava Bridge on a religious holiday was a crime within the crime,” he said, adding that, “it is inevitable that the time will come when all of Europe will recognize that NATO’s aggression against Serbia in 1999 was a historic, fatal mistake.” He said that Serbia’s many friends around the world should also be remembered and respected for their support during those most difficult of times. In particular, he thanked the Serbs in the Diaspora for their solidarity before, during and after the aggression. He noted that, thanks to that solidarity, many of the bridges destroyed by NATO were quickly rebuilt, including the one on which the peaceful citizens of Varvarin were killed. Copy & paste the URL address below into any Web browser to download a royalty-free 94 MB HD video that may be freely broadcast and/or circulated: http://files.me.com/johnbosnitch/fzthnk.mov
