The Vice President of the entity Republika Srpska (RS), Camil Durakovic, announced that the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has made a decision not to conduct an investigation based on the criminal report he filed on October 7th against an unknown person who painted a mural of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic on the building of the Soup Kitchen in Banja Luka.
He says he simultaneously filed the report against the mayor, Drasko Stanivukovic, who refused to remove the disputed mural.
“In the explanation of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, it is stated that members of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), despite photo documentation and witness statements, could not identify that the likeness of Ratko Mladic is on the mural, and that therefore it cannot be said that the criminal offense of inciting national, racial, and religious hatred, discord, and intolerance has been committed,” Durakovic says.
In other words, Durakovic adds, according to the position of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, it is not a criminal offense to paint “an old guy in a uniform,” even though it is a person who has been finally convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and the persecution of civilians.
“I remind the public that the action team for locating and arresting Hague fugitives in 2011 identified Ratko Mladic in the village of Lazarevo without difficulty, even though they did not have his more recent photographs. However, it is apparently not possible to do that today in Banja Luka, not with photographs, not with testimonies, not with the publicly known likeness of the war criminal,” the statement adds.
With this decision by the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, Durakovic states, it is clear that no one will order the removal of the mural, nor will anyone guarantee the safety of the citizens of Banja Luka, whose dignity is offended by such symbols, as well as the memory of the victims.
“On the contrary, near the mural, messages have already appeared threatening citizens who think differently: ‘Whoever is bothered by the hero at Mejdan will not be able to walk freely.’ I believe that this decision is deeply humiliating for the surviving victims of the genocide and the crimes that Ratko Mladic personally ordered and committed, and yet another proof that the system in BiH does not protect the victims, but protects the likeness and the ‘work’ of war criminals,” Durakovic concludes.
