The Vice President of the Republika Srpska (RS), Ramiz Salkic, yesterday called on the competent institutions to investigate and sanction those who are a source of spreading religious and national hatred and intolerance, while commenting on setting up a billboard in Bratunac, which congratulates the birthday to Ratko Mladic, the first instance sentenced in The Hague to life in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war.
“Glorification of war criminals in Bratunac, Bijeljina, and other places in RS, the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a consequence of the lack of legislation and the possibility of punishing perpetrators as a means of preventing these activities in the future, ” Salkic pointed out.
In that context, he assessed the inaction of the international community as worrying.
“The inertia of the international community towards these occurrences, which are slowly but surely threatening the achieved level of interethnic cooperation in this entity, is worrying, but if we look deeper into the past, it seems to be expected,” stated the RS Vice President.
At the same time, he warned that “the lack of reaction of the High Representative to the unconstitutional and illegal implementation of election results in some municipalities in the RS entity, such as Bratunac, Vlasenica, Foca, is a great encouragement for the old and new generation of Serbian nationalists who would like to create unbearable conditions for life and survival of Bosniaks in these municipalities, but also in the whole entity ”.
“The relativization of these phenomena by the Office of the High Representative (OHR), but also by other domestic and international organizations, will undoubtedly cause further radicalization, first in a political way, and later possibly other spheres,” Salkic warned.
He emphasized that “a billboard dedicated to war criminal Ratko Mladic in Bratunac is another in a series of proofs of the need for the High Representative to impose a law on banning the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals.”
“I call on the competent institutions to investigate and punish those who are a source of spreading religious and national hatred and intolerance by placing billboards with the photo of Ratko Mladic, a convicted war criminal for genocide against Bosniaks in the United Nations (UN) Safe Zone Srebrenica and other severe crimes. There is an old proverb that says “a fool’s vexation is presently known, but a prudent man concealeth shame, ” Salkic noted, as was announced from his office.
Earlier, the Municipal Board of the SDA Bratunac condemned the placement of billboard in Bratunac.
“This billboard shows the reputation and honor of the mayor of the municipality of Bratunac who is trying in this way to preserve himself and the parliamentary majority by expelling Bosniaks from the executive and legislative branches of law in the municipality of Bratunac,” the statement said.
Among other things, the municipal organization (in Bosnian: OO) SDA Bratunac believes that “the current mayor and his disintegrating parliamentary majority aim to provoke intolerance among Bosniaks and Serbs in Bratunac, but also in other places, which has serious consequences for stability.”
“Those who should have reacted did nothing while waiting for something to happen, this is obviously a new attempt by the mayor of municipality to homogenize his parliamentary majority in the further fight against Bosniaks in Bratunac,” the party noted, urging the competent authorities to investigate the incident, BHRT writes.
