Trebinje - Srdjan Aleksic-Srdjo 4 of 6

Trebinje-ON HUMAN DUTY 15 March 2007 | 16:18 | Source: B92 BELGRADE, TREBINJE -- The state television (RTS) yesterday aired a documentary on a Bosnian Serb who in 1993 died while protecting a Muslim. According to witnesses, Srđan Aleksić was killed by a local gang identifying itself as "Chetniks" when he confronted them as they prepared to murder his acquaintance Alen Glavović, a Bosnian Muslim from Trebinje. Instead, they attacked Aleksić, severely beating him with rifle-butts. He subsequently fell into a coma on January 21, 1993, succumbing to his wounds six days later. The entire incident took place near the local market place and police station in Trebinje. Srđan's father Rade at the time wrote an obituary for his son, reading, "he died doing his human duty." One of the four assailants was killed several months later in the war, while the other three were convicted to two years and four months in prison each. Trebinje residents described Srđan Aleksić as the first and only soldier to have openly, in front of the town hall, thrown away his weapon, protesting the events on the Dubrovnik front "with disgust." The documentary shows witnesses claiming that the defense lawyer for the accused said in the trial, "Serves him right for protecting Balijas [derogatory term for Muslims in Bosnia]." Srđan Aleksić was 27 years old when he died. He was a junior swimming champion and was engaged in a local amateur theater. Alen Glavović today lives in Sweden with his wife and two children, and visits Srđan's grave every year.