Provoking an ethnic group, especially on Orthodox Christmas Eve, is pointless and only damages Serbs, House of Peoples MP Lazar Prodanovic, a member of the main Bosnian Serb party in the country, told N1 on Thursday, referring to recent incidents which sparked outrage among Bosniaks.
On Orthodox Christmas Eve, January 6, a video emerged on the internet showing several cars passing through the area where the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide were laid to rest as Serb nationalist songs can be heard in the background.
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The so-called Ravna Gora movement in Visegrad, an ultranationalist Bosnian Serb group, also paraded through the town where Bosnian Serb forces committed mass murder targeting the Bosniak civilian population during the 1992-1995 war.
“Such incidents are much more damaging to the Serbs who live there. What does anyone gain from that? What is even the point of provoking anyone in any sense on Christmas Eve?” he asked.
Prodanovic also commented on recent controversial cases within Bosnia’s Armed Forces.
The Defence Ministry and the Armed Forces began a disciplinary procedure against one of their members who allegedly congratulated the unconstitutional Day of Republika Srpska on social media on January 9 and posted images of Ratko Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb general sentenced to life in a first-instance ruling for various war crimes committed during the 1992-1995 war, including genocide.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Defence Minister said he submitted a request to the competent bodies to investigate the actions of a Bosniak member of the Armed Forces who allegedly “glorified” former Bosniak commander Naser Oric on Orthodox Christmas Day.
“What does it mean when a member of the Armed Forces insults the feelings of another ethnic group? Then we ask ourselves whether we have a professional, unbiased army which will not be under political control or whether those are those individuals who may be divided into three sides if it comes to a confrontation tomorrow?” Prodanovic said.
