“Milorad Dodik is not above the law, nobody is, and I hope that the court will respect that principle, ” stated Doris Pack, former rapporteur of the European Parliament for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), for Radio Free Europe (RFE), regarding his harsh reaction to the decision of the outgoing High Representative in BiH, Valentin Inzko, on the ban on genocide denial.
“Denying genocide is not in the interest of Serbs, but Dodik thinks it is. Such a situation has been going on for a long time and now Inzko has done what was probably needed to be done before, ” according to Pack.
When asked to comment on Inzko’s decision to use the Bonn powers to impose amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH that ban and punish genocide denial and glorification of war criminals, one of the country’s most contentious issues for yearsnow, Pack explained that the biggest problem is the genocide that happened in Srebrenica and not the fact that Inzko, at least at the end of his term, made a decision that many people had been waiting for a long time.
“I believe he made the right move,” she pointed out.
Asked about the political consequences, since Dodik threatened that it would lead to the division of BiH, Pack noted that Dodik had been threatening for a long time and the problem was that he had not received a strong response from the European Union (EU) leaders and domestic political leaders.
“Therefore, it is about time for BiH to overcome this issue. The Dayton Agreement ended the war, but it created a situation in which it is difficult to govern this country. No one has reacted appropriately to Dodik’s threats in past years. His latest threats are nothing new compared to what he did before. I guess many will now react to Dodik’s actions. We cannot accept that someone like him questions what happened in Srebrenica, even though he knows the facts. Dodik is one of the three members of the Presidency and should show respect to all the people who were killed by members of the Serbian people. So, Inzko made the right move, but unfortunately, others are too busy with assessing the scope of Dodik’s threats, ” said Pack.
She pointed out that he was like everyone else.
”That is why I don’t think we should pay too much attention to his threats. He is one of the leaders in BiH and should respect the Dayton Constitution, and Inzko did what he had to do, ” Pack concluded.
