A Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Staša Košarac (SNSD), made an announcement following the death of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić, sending a scandalous message which openly glorified a former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, convicted of genocide.
Košarac opened the post with a religious citation “I await resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come,” and then, in carefully chosen words, bade farewell to the man who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a final and binding verdict before international justice for the most severe war crimes in modern European history.
“General, it is difficult to find the right words to say goodbye.Thank you for the courage, decisiveness, and the strength you gave to the Serbian people. General Mladić was, is, and will remain my commander. He was, is, and will remain much more than a soldier and general. A patriot, authority, and a man whose presence in the hardest moments gave strength and encouragement to our people,” Košarac wrote.
Further on, the state minister described Mladić as a “symbol of resistance and the fight for survival,” continuing the political practice of denying Hague verdicts and ignoring thousands of victims.
“His name to us is not only a name of a general. He is the symbol of one time, death, resistance, and fight for survival. Today we are sorrowful, but also proud that the Serbian people had ready people, in the hardest moments, to stand before their people and carry the burden of history. It is our obligation to remember,” Košarac said, expressing condolences to the family.
Such a public appearance by a senior official of the Council of Ministers of BiH represents direct glorification of a war criminal.
As a reminder, The Hague Tribunal and the International Residual Mechanism issued a final verdict sentencing Ratko Mladić to life imprisonment for genocide against the Bosniak population in Srebrenica, years of terrorizing and shelling the citizens of Sarajevo, persecution, extermination, and taking UN personnel hostage.
