Salih Pasalic who fled Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war told N1 on Wednesday he was one of the people whose identity was abused during November local elections in Bosnia and that his wife, two sons and he were registered in Serbia.

Days before the elections, a cousin told him he needed 300 signatures from Srebrenica residents to run for the councillor in the municipal assembly.

“One of those three people [who contacted me] is also my cousin, who begged me in January, mid-January, saying he was urged by the Vice President of Republika Srpska (RS), Ramiz Salkic, to send him copies of ID cards because he allegedly wanted to run for the position of councillor in Srebrenica. I told him no problem, we always vote, you can get four copies from me, my wife and two my sons,” Pasalic told N1 without mentioning any names, adding that he hadn't thought about the option that something like this could happen.

“Since we vote every election, we monitored the situation and checked to see if our voter application had been confirmed. Then we found out we were registered to vote from Serbia – my wife, two sons and I.”

He claims he had sent ID copies to his cousin via social networks.

“Knowing we vote every election, I'm amazed he didn't think we'd find out about it if he really thought of election fraud. I too am baffled because he said he needed the copies to run for councillor in Srebrenica Municipal Assembly,” Pasalic said for N1.

Earlier this week, state authorities initiated an investigation into the election results in Srebrenica Municipality based on alleged election fraud.

Namely, following the victory of Incumbent Mladen Grujicic, a joint candidate of all major Serb parties over Alija Tabakovic, a joint candidate of all pro-Bosnian parties, rumours appeared of a major election fraud in which unsuspecting residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina were registered to vote from Serbia.

Several Srebrenica Bosniak organizations claimed to allegedly have evidence of people from Serbia arriving in busses to vote for the Serb candidate Mladen Grujicic.

After finding out he and his family were registered in Serbia, all on different addresses, Pasalic said his family was shocked by everything that happened, dragging them through emotional chaos.

But thanks to Bosnia's election watchdog, they managed to sort things out and vote as they always did.

“We had to prove from the Netherlands that we live in the Netherlands, provide them with certain documents proving we are really those people who are supposed to vote on November 15,” he said.

He concluded that the entire situation was extremely painful for him and his family.

On Tuesday, Bosnia's special police called State investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) apprehended three individuals suspected of “association to commit criminal offences” in connection with crimes of document forging, illegal use of personal information and the violation of the right to vote. The Agency conducted the said operation in the area of Srebrenica and Tuzla in cooperation with Republika Srpska entity Interior Ministry and Tuzla Canton Police.

The Agency noted they searched six locations where they found and seized several cell phones, notebooks, copies of electoral rolls, a pistol and other items, which can serve as evidence and that they apprehended three suspects – one of which is the Social Democratic Party's (SDP) Bego Bektic who was excluded from the party, and the local SDP dissolved.