Workers from the Mostar utility company were unable to remove the mural dedicated to Slobodan Praljak, an HV and HVO general convicted by the Hague Tribunal, in the southern part of Mostar, as citizens gathered at the site and a car was parked in front of the building where the mural was painted.
When the utility company workers arrived in the Ortiješ neighborhood accompanied by police, they found about a dozen citizens waiting for them.
In front of the building, which features a portrait of General Praljak and the message “A true Croat never dies” on one side and the symbols of the Ultras fan group on the other, a car with German license plates was parked.
Unable to remove the mural, the workers returned to the company’s headquarters, and the citizens left soon after. There were no incidents.
Police Maintained Public Order and Peace
The Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Ministry of the Interior (MUP HNK) confirmed to Bljesak.info that police officers acted to maintain public peace and order, and that citizens left afterward.
According to information obtained by Bljesak.info, the mural could not be removed because a vehicle with foreign license plates was parked at the location.
Slobodan Praljak is one of six former officials of the so-called Herceg-Bosna (Herceg-Bosnia) who was sentenced by The Hague Tribunal to 20 years in prison for war crimes committed against Bosniak civilians.
After the sentence was pronounced, he drank poison and died at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) premises. The request for removal of the mural was made by Sanel Kajan, a representative of Željko Komšić’sDemocratic Front in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He stated that promoting persons convicted of war crimes by a final verdict is a criminal offense under the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After the removal of the mural failed, Kajan wrote on his Facebook profile that “the country cannot bow down before the glorification of war criminals,” and called on institutions to sanction those who prevented the removal of the General Praljak mural.
