Members of the Sarajevo Cantonal Assembly passed a Declaration condemning the arrest of ex Bosnian Army General Atif Dudakovic and other former members of his wartime unit.
Bosnian authorities arrested former Bosnian Army general Atif Dudakovic and 12 other members of his Fifth Corps on April 27. They stand accused of war crimes, committed between 1994 and 1995, and related to the alleged killing of hundreds of captured Bosnian Serb soldiers from the area of Western Krajina and Bosniak civilians who supported the Autonomous Province of West Bosnia during 1994 – a structure that was run by Bosniaks who rebelled against the Sarajevo government.
Despite the prosecution's request for the suspects to remain in custody, the Bosnian State Court ordered their release two days later.
The Declaration that was adopted today states that Dudakovic’s and his co-defendants’ efforts for an independent Bosnia and their contribution in defending their people should be an inspiration to generations in the spirit of trust building and a happier future, but also in memory of an unhappy past.
“The arrest represents nothing but the continuation of an anti-Bosnian policy and an attempt to equalize the aggressor and the victims. Victims whose only crime was an aspiration to build a state catered to all the peoples who live in it,” the Declaration states.
The policy of equalizing the victims and the aggressor “was never and will never be accepted among the people who sacrificed the most in the period behind us,” it states.
“Aiming to preserve the legacy of Bosnia and Herzegovina and define positive political processes which take our country down international democratic paths towards Euro-atlantic integration, we strongly condemn the manner and actions with which heroes of the defensive-liberation war are being portrayed completely opposite to what they actually are and which represent an attempt to portray them as war criminals and erase the footprint they have left on the foundations of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” it reads.
The Declaration was adopted with 26 votes in favour, while seven lawmakers abstained.
