Bisera Turkovic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) sent a letter to world officials yesterday, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo.
”The siege of the capital of an internationally recognized country is considered one of the longest in the history of warfare. During the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, more than 11.000 people, including 1.601 children, were killed by systematic shelling and sniper fire. More than 50.000 civilians of all nationalities were wounded. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has handed down several war crimes verdicts committed during the siege of Sarajevo,” she said at the beginning of her letter.
In the final verdict against Stanislav Galic, the former commander of the so-called Army of the Republika Srpska (RS), due to his role in the “campaign of sniping and shelling of civilians in Sarajevo in the period from September 1992 to August 1994,” there is the data on their daily attacks on civilians in BiH. Turkovic writes that the verdict states that civilians were attacked at funerals, in ambulances, trams, buses, or bicycles.
Turkovic points out that thirty years later, the citizens of BiH are once again facing security and political threats “that arouse fears, unrest, and dread”.
She then put forward several facts which she claims are evidence of a serious security threat “which has not been removed or stopped and which still threatens to cause wider destabilization.”
Here is what she said:
On October 20th, 2021, the National Assembly of the RS (NARS) adopted the Law on Medicines and Medical Devices of the RS, which envisages the establishment of an entity agency for medicines. The law was published in the Official Gazette on December 28th, 2021.
On February 3rd, 2022, the Government of the Entity of the RS gave its consent to the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Republic Administration, which establishes the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of the RS. With the new agency, the RS entity would “come out” of the joint state agency for medicines.
On December 10th, 2021, the NARS adopted conclusions related to the withdrawal of the RS entities from the state judiciary, indirect taxes, security and defense, and the formation of entity agencies.
Further, on February 10th, 2022, the NARS adopted the Law on Immovable Property, which transferred the competence from one part of the immovable property from the level of BiH to the level of the RS entity. The law, which is contrary to the Constitution of BiH, is due to enter into force early next month.
”I remind you that all state laws that are now being repealed by entity decisions have been adopted in a fully democratic procedure. All state institutions that were built over the years in order to achieve the functionality of the state are being demolished today. We call on the competent institutions to stop the destruction of the state,” Turkovic concluded in her letter to world leaders.
