The director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Emir Suljagić, said that the institution has been under pressure in recent weeks and asserted that there is a plan for special police units to enter the Memorial Center, as well as his arrest. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska rejected his allegations, saying that they are “completely incorrect and unfounded”.
Suljagić spoke about the investigation being conducted in connection with the Memorial Center, hearings of employees and former employees, as well as about, as he stated, the pressures to which the institution is exposed. According to him, persons who work or previously worked at the Memorial Center were summoned to the local police station for questioning a few weeks ago.
“The first goal is a strategic goal, and Milorad Dodik himself stands behind that goal, which is to permanently discredit the Memorial Center, to destroy it, to discredit it as an institution of memory. And the second tactical goal, without which this first goal cannot be implemented, is for me to end up in prison,” said Suljagić.
He stated that 26 people were called to the hearing, of which, according to him, three were questioned, while four refused to give a statement to the police and asked to be questioned by the prosecutor. He also claimed that the prosecutor did not come to Srebrenica, and that the employees of the Memorial Center do not yet know who is leading the investigation.
Suljagić said that he knows that there is an investigation against him because of the post on the X social network, stating that individuals were offended because of it.
He described the entire procedure as a “parapolice and paraintelligence operation” whose goal, according to his claims, is the dismantling and destruction of the Srebrenica Memorial Center. “They would give a lot of money for this to remain a cemetery in the deep province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They would give a lot of money for us to put the Memorial Center under lock and key. We can’t, we won’t,” said Suljagić.
MUP RS: The claims are incorrect and unfounded
After Suljagić’s statements, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska made an announcement, which rejected claims that the police were preparing his arrest or the action of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit entering the Memorial Center. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS stated that such claims are “irresponsible” and represent the presentation of unverified information as fact.
“Such claims are irresponsible and represent the presentation of unverified information as fact, which without any basis creates an image of the alleged plan and actions of the police that does not exist,” stated the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS. They pointed out that the police in this case act exclusively at the request and under the supervision of the acting prosecutor of the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS, the procedure refers to the report of the existence of elements of the criminal offense of “tax and contribution evasion”.
“Therefore, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska calls for an end to the publication of constructions about the alleged actions, arrests and raids of the police, because there is no factual basis for such claims,” stated the statement signed by the mayor, Mirna Miljanović.
