Monument to Gavrilo Princip unveiled in East Sarajevo

Monument to Gavrilo Princip unveiled in East Sarajevo

SARAJEVO -- As part of events marking 100 years since the outbreak of WW1, a monument to Gavrilo Princip has been unveiled in the newly built city park in East Sarajevo.

The statue was cast in bronze and is two meters tall, the work of Belgrade-based sculptor Zoran Kuzmanović.

The statue was unveiled by Serb member of Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency Nebojša Radmanović, Bosnia's Serb entity, RS, President Milorad Dodik, and the mayor of East New Sarajevo, Ljubisa Ćosić.

"Gavrilo Princip's shot was a shot for freedom. His shot was a prelude to what some Europeans were preparing for for years, and Serbs emerged from that war as winners," Radmanović said during the ceremony on Friday.

He added that June 28, St. Vitus Day (Vidovdan) is not only a Serb religious holiday, "but a day of remembrance of the sacrifices and the struggle for freedom," and warned about attempts to rewrite history.

"Today, we have Gavrilo in East Sarajevo, a revolutionary, a man who to us, is one century of hope. We remember the Young Bosnia members and Gavrilo Princip proudly," said Radmanović.

He then noted that the anniversary of the assassination was being marked in Sarajevo as well, but without RS representatives, and asked: "Who is it that they are remembering?"

100 years ago Princip, a Bosnian Serb, shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne. The assassination happened as Ferdinand was visiting Bosnia, a territory Austria-Hungary had annexed in 1908.

Addressing the ceremony on Friday, Mayor Ćosić said that Princip was "a hero of the Serb people," and that the statue in East Sarajevo "has its...