Commemoration for those who died in Belgrade's liberation

BELGRADE - A commemoration was held on Monday for the Yugoslav Partisan and Red Army troops who died in the battle for Belgrade's liberation from Nazi occupation, which ended in victory on October 20, 1944, 70 years ago.

Minister for War Veteran Affairs Aleksandar Vulin and Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali laid wreaths at the cemetery dedicated to Belgrade's liberators.

Officials of the Defence Ministry, Armed Forces and Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces General Valery Gerasimov also paid their respects.

Officials of the Union of Associations of the People's Liberation War Veterans, an association that fosters the tradition of Serbia's liberation wars, and Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Azerbaijani embassies also paid their respects.

Many people, including some from the former Yugoslav repulic of Slovenia also paid their respects.

Some of the people carried flags of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia and banners saying: "Death to fascism - freedom to the people," which was the motto of the Yugoslav Partisans during their fight against German occupation.

More than 60,000 people were killed in Belgrade during 4 years of German occupation, from 1941 to 1944, Vulin told reporters after the commemoration, adding that the Partisans and the Red Army had liberated the city, and that that truth could not be changed or used as a political tool.

The 70th anniversary of this great event in Belgrade's history was celebrated appropriately in the past 10 days through a military parade, forum, exhibitions and meetings where historians and survivors of the war discussed what life was like during the occupation and the battle for the city's freedom, Mali noted.