President: We have not heard sincere apology

President: We have not heard sincere apology

"Do not expect me to forget what was happening during the aggression on Serbia, 78 days and nights, from March 24 until June 9, 1999 - nor that NATO air forces on May 30 the same year, during the Orthodox holiday of the Holy Trinity, at around 13:00 hours, used four missiles to bomb the bridge on Velika Morava," he said.

The president noted that most of us have neither forgotten nor forgiven, adding that "someone might even do it - but we have not heard a sincere apology."

Nikolić reminded those present that ten people lost their lives in Varvarin, 17 suffered serious wounds, and dozens more had light injuries.

"All these years we have been counting the victims of the realization of political goals of the powerful ones. If, along with the thousands of names of innocent victims that we all, and not just their families, mention and grieve for, we were also to learn the name of at least one executioner or someone who gave the order, and who had been punished, it would be easier for us. Us Serbs are a strange people, we may even forgive most of them," Nikolić was quoted as saying.

The president then commented on NATO's campaign, "soullessly named 'Merciful Angel,' that came down mostly on innocent people," to say that 18 NATO member states dropped bombs destroying civilian targets, children and the elderly, as if in a virtual game, while their propaganda machine referred to the victims as "collateral damage."

"It is our duty to never forget the injustice that ended the lives of all the innocent people who died in the territory of Serbia, and which cannot be put right for all of eternity," he said.

Nikolić especially stressed that "we are seeking truth at any price for the sake of the peace of mind that is possible - and for the sake of reconciliation, that we need as well."

A total of 52 people from the Rasina District were killed by NATO in 1999, of which 39 military reservists, active soldiers and reserve policemen, and a civilian who died in Kosovo and Metohija.

Two were killed when a bridge was attacked in Trstenik, while the strikes on the bridge in Varvarin claimed the lives of ten people.

Most major bridges and a number of industrial and residential facilities were destroyed in the territory of the town of Kruševac and nearby municipalities.