Deputy Chair of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Zvizdić, reacted to the glorification of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in Serbia and the Republika Srpska entity, stating that reactions of the international community are disappointingly mild.
Zvizdić began his address with a historical parallel, recalling the former German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s move, who, in 1970, in the Warsaw Ghetto, knelt before the monument to the victims of the Nazi pogrom.
“To Germany, his kneeling gesture signified a rise and an accelerated path toward one of the world’s leading democracies and economies. In Serbia, unfortunately, the opposite process is taking place,” Zvizdić emphasized.
He warned that there is an attempt to portray the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić, who was convicted of genocide, monstrous war crimes, and crimes against humanity, as a “national hero.”
Zvizdić believes that this sends a clear message to the region, the European Union, and the entire world that those who lead Serbia are not ready to accept civilizational and European values, or good-neighborly cooperation.
“Also, reactions arriving from the EU, which should defend democratic standards and values on which it is founded, are mild and sterile. They stay at the level of already seen unproductive statements without concrete measures or effect,” he said.
Zvizdić said that Serbia and the Republika Srpska entity are revising historical facts, denying genocide in Srebrenica, and challenging verdicts of international courts.
Therefore, he posed a straightforward question to the representatives of EU countries and the entire democratic world, and particularly to those countries that voted in the UN for the Resolution on Genocide in Srebrenica.
He asked if those representatives would agree to stay in contact with officials from Serbia and the Republika Srpska entity who are participating in the glorification of the life and legacy of the convicted war criminal Mladić, who attended a disgraceful commemorative rally or will be present at his funeral.
“If that were to happen, international law and international courts, democratic principles and European and anti-fascist values on which the EU is founded lose all meaning,” Zvizdić concluded in his sharp message.
