Reading the Bible will help stop war crimes, says Serbian officer

Colonel Sasha Milutinovic says that reading the New Testament will help educate troops in moral standards. Bible Society/Clare Kendall

More than 4,000 New Testaments are being given to the Serbian army, according to a senior military figure.

The New Testaments will be handed out to soldiers over the coming months.

Colonel Sasha Milutinovic, the Serbian army's Chief of Religion Section, said that reading them would "improve respect for the enemy".

"I hope as a result of this we will never see a war crime in the Serbian Army again," he said.

"In the past we made some mistakes. But now we not only want to improve our morals but to come back to faith in eternal life and to eternal values."

The New Testaments have been produced by Bible Society and will be distributed free later this year. It is hoped that, in time, all 33,000 members of the Serbian Armed Forces will receive a copy.

The General Secretary of the Bible Society of Serbia, Vera Mitic, welcomed the move.

"Soldiers can learn a lot about military service from the Bible," she said. "I strongly believe that the Bible should be a spiritual and moral guide for our soldiers."

She added that she hoped the scheme would inspire other Bible Societies in the Balkans to provide Bibles to their armies.

Serbian forces were responsible for atrocities during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, among them the massacre at Srebrenica.

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims died in the three-day massacre, the worst in Europe since the end of the Second World War.

The former head of the Serbian Army, Ratko Mladic, is currently on trial at the Hague for war crimes.

Earlier this year a judge at the Hague upheld charges against five former Serbian Army officers for their role in the killings.

related articles
Migrants in Austria: How a Syrian church in Vienna is helping victims of the bloody civil war
Migrants in Austria: How a Syrian church in Vienna is helping victims of the bloody civil war

Migrants in Austria: How a Syrian church in Vienna is helping victims of the bloody civil war

Five reasons why Paula Gooder is going to influence your theology
Five reasons why Paula Gooder is going to influence your theology

Five reasons why Paula Gooder is going to influence your theology

New \'dyslexia-friendly\' Bible makes scripture accessible for all
New 'dyslexia-friendly' Bible makes scripture accessible for all

New 'dyslexia-friendly' Bible makes scripture accessible for all

News
Three words that changed history: ‘Jesus became sin'
Three words that changed history: ‘Jesus became sin'

As we enter Easter, we want to centre our attention on the significance of Christ’s work of redemption for all of humanity.

Gloucester Cathedral to unveil stunning new pipe organ
Gloucester Cathedral to unveil stunning new pipe organ

Gloucester Cathedral has said that this year’s Organ Festival will be extra special, as it will see the unveiling of its brand new organ.

Religious freedom violations increasing in Nicaragua
Religious freedom violations increasing in Nicaragua

The situation has declined since 2018.

Päivi Räsänen calls for repeal of hate speech laws across Europe after shock conviction
Päivi Räsänen calls for repeal of hate speech laws across Europe after shock conviction

All copies of a decades old pamphlet are to be destroyed after Finland's former Minister of the Interior was convicted of hate speech - even though the law that convicted her did not exist at the time the pamphlet was published.