Niksic-Nelson: Everyone who committed Crimes during the War must be held accountable

President of the Social Democratic Party of BiH Nermin Niksic talked with US Ambassador to BiH Eric Nelson and Deputy Head of Mission Deborah Mennuti about the current political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The focus of the talks, among other things, was on changes to the BiH Election Law related to the election of members of the BiH Presidency and the introduction of mechanisms that will protect the integrity of the election process and prevent mass abuses. They also discussed changes to the BiH Criminal Code by former High Representative Valentin Inzko and the fight against corruption and crime.

Nikšić confirmed to Ambassador Nelson the positions of the SDP BiH, in which they strongly oppose the asymmetric election of members of the Presidency of BiH.

“When it comes to the election of members of the Presidency of BiH, SDP is ready to be part of the solution regardless of whether it is a direct or indirect election, provided that it is a proposal for the election of all members of the Presidency of BiH. We will never agree to asymmetric solutions, because that will actually mean that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a single state but a state union,” stated Niksic.

He thanked the Ambassador for focusing on protecting the integrity of the election process, which is a key interest of SDP.

Nelson was interested in SDP’s position on the current situation caused by the amendments to the BiH Criminal Code, related to the ban on genocide denial.

Niksic said that RS officials have a historic chance to accept the truth, which was officially confirmed by the verdict.

“Those are the facts. Everyone who committed crimes during the war must be held accountable. I expect the normalization of relations in state institutions soon. There is no other choice but for everyone to abide by the law and for unnecessary discussions about it to finally stop. The real problems of the citizens have been completely put aside, which is convenient only to the governing structures, but certainly not to citizens,” said Niksic and added that the SDP continues to propose solutions to these problems.

The fight against corruption and organized crime was also discussed at the meeting, and the President of SDPBiH reiterated to Ambassador Nelson that this is one of the main priorities in the work of the SDP, the SDP said.