The Chetnik gathering announced for July 17 on the square in Bijeljina will be organized in the courtyard of the Cathedral of the Orthodox Church, and not on the city square as was the case before.
Namely, the association Kingdom of Serbia – Republika Srpska was supposed to organize “Draza’s Day” in Bijeljina, on General Dragoljub Draza Mihailovic Square, on July 17.
On the previous initiative of the presidents of the Trojka (Three) parties – Edin Forto, Nermin Niksic and Elmedin Konakovic – who sent a request to the Bijeljina Police Department to ban that gathering, a decision was made to move the celebrations to the courtyard of the Orthodox church.
On this occasion, the leadership of the Troika announced in a joint statement.
“The gathering on the occasion of celebrating the character and works of Draza Mihailovic is a public incitement of national and religious hatred and intolerance.” Should we remind you, Draza Mihailovic was the leader of the fascist Chetnik movement, one of whose goals was the extermination of Bosniaks from Sandzak and Bosniaks and Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among other things, because of this, he was convicted and shot in 1946. They also killed in his name in the last war.
We remind you that on June 22, 2022, the Appeals Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Dusan Sladojevic, Slavko Aleksic and Rista Lecic to five months in prison each for causing national, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance in the area of Visegrad and the surrounding area.
Sladojević, Aleksić and Lečić at a gathering of members and sympathizers of the Ravnogorski Chetnik movement on March 10, 2019, glorified the Chetnik movement and Mihailovic and sang songs that in their lyrics call for threats and violence.
If we look back over the years, identical messages are sent from every gathering that glorifies the character and misdeeds of Mihailovic, so it can be expected without a doubt that members of the public in military uniforms will be present at the announced gathering in Bijeljina, and that the gathering will be accompanied by the shouting of slogans and by singing songs calling for violence, as everyone has done so far.
It is awakening trauma and digging into the wounds of all Bosniaks and Croats of Bijeljina, but also insulting all anti-fascists, regardless of their ethnicity, and we hope that the ban on gatherings will stop.”
