A month and ten days ago, journalists asked the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) at what stage the investigation in the case known as “Icon” is now. Since August 19th, no one from the state prosecutor’s office has deigned to answer that question, even after a few reminders.
The “Icon” affair fell into complete oblivion, although the BiHpublic was shocked in mid-December last year after allegations appeared that BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik presentedRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a 300-year-old gilded icon found in Luhansk.
Almost a year later, since the affair of international proportions, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has made the scandal suppressed from the memory of many people, and now they do not want to explain to the public at what stage the investigation is. It is not even known if the case is being worked on or closed.
It is important to mention that the Russian Federation returned the gift to Dodik after the Ukrainian Embassy in BiH informed the BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they have justified suspicions that this icon is a cultural treasure of Ukraine and that they demand its return.
Shortly after the affair was revealed, Dodik was hospitalized for coronavirus. After leaving the hospital, he first attacked themedia and “political Sarajevo” for this case with the icon. He then started to accuse everyone else.
After that, the Prosecution of BiH then opened a case, and since then a number of witnesses have been heard, including Dodik. And that’s where it all stopped, even though Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated his country still demanded that BiH’s leadership return a 300-year-old gilded icon stolen in Luhansk, adding that Milorad Dodik was lying about the icon’s origins.
At the end of January, Ukrainian Ambassador Vasily Kirilich arrived in Sarajevo and held meetings with Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic and Chief Prosecutor Gordana Tadic.
During that meeting on January 26th, 2021, the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, Gordana Tadic pointed outthat the prosecutors were actively and intensively working on this case. Ambassador Kirilich then insisted that the icon be removed immediately, and then that experts examine it and assess its value.
We are already close to the end of 2021, and we know almost nothing about the “Icon” case, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
