Varazdin on Wednesday hosted for the third time the main ceremony held to mark the Day of Remembrance of Missing Persons in the Homeland War, at which it was said that 1,806 persons are still being traced and Serbia was told that hiding the truth about them is an ongoing crime.
Of those 1,806 persons, 1,411 are unaccounted for and 395 are dead whoseВ places of burial are unknown, it was said.
Over the past seven years, the remains of 254 persons have been identified and turned over to their families, while the remains of 11 have been exhumed this year, War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said, adding that he is saddened by the lack of cooperation and information from Serbia.
“Today in Varazdin, we once again invited Serbia to deliver information on the fates of the missing persons because we can be faster if we get information on the locations of either single or mass graves,” he said.
“In cooperation with the families and the associations, we will continue to work, with commitment, responsibly and persistently, on finding all our missing persons until we find the last person on the list, identify them and turn them over to the families so they have a placeВ to pray and light a candle for their dearest ones,” he added.
For 1,806 families, it is still not over because they are still looking for their dearest ones, said Varazdin County head . “Therefore we all have the obligation to continue to collect data and information on where they were buried and where their remains are.”
The ceremony was organised, among others, by the Federation of Associations of Families of Detained and Missing CroatianВ and Defenders, whose president Ljiljana Alvir said the unity and perseverance in the search, in cooperation with state institutions, instilled hope that the remains would be found.
“Hiding the truth about the missing is an ongoing crime,” she added