The Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has called on the judicial institutions of BiH, particularly the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, to prosecute the organizers of the celebration of January 9th as “Republika Srpska (RS) Day,” which the Constitutional Court of BiH has declared unconstitutional on two occasions, adding that its celebration constitutes a criminal offense.
“The smaller BiH entity is a byproduct of horrific wartime events, bordered by mass graves, founded on war crimes, genocide, concentration camps, and the expulsion of non-Serb populations. January 9th can only be a day of mourning, a day of remembrance for the victims of the “Greater Serbia“ policy. From this perspective, it is now clear that a huge mistake was made in 1995 in Dayton, reflected primarily in the formation of an administrative unit within BiH, the RS entity, with the powers and jurisdictions granted to it, as well as the name it bears,” Helez stated on Facebook.
He emphasized that the Agreement on the Establishment of Special Parallel Relations between Serbia and RS was supposed to contribute to the social, democratic, and economic development of RS, as well as the entire BiH, but it has been abused. This agreement, he added, now serves as a foundation for undermining the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and unity of BiH and for the aggressive interference of neighboring Serbia in the internal affairs of BiH.
He also called on the international community to react and suspend the Agreement on the Establishment of Special Parallel Relations between Serbia and RS.
“It is clear that today’s political leaderships of RS and Serbia are merely pale copies of Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, and Slobodan Milosevic. Their political goals are the same. The ‘Serbian World’ is the same as ‘Greater Serbia.’ If the international community continues to tolerate the secessionist policy openly promoted by the leadership of the smaller BiH entity, along with Serbia’s aggressive policy toward BiH, it is only a matter of time before we wake up to a new conflict in this region. There is no more time or patience; the time has come for comprehensive action against separatists,” Helez emphasized.
