The Culture and Sports Minister in Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) entity, Sanja Vlaisavljevic, caused a flurry of reactions and requests for her dismissal after saying in N1’s programme that convicted war criminals should be rehabilitated and that they are no longer war criminals after serving their sentences. For this reason, FBiH Prime Minister apologized on the Government's behalf for her statements and distanced himself from her opinion.

“I personally and on behalf of the Government, I apologize to all those who were hurt by the statement and above all to the victims. I believe that we should deal with the victims, not the perpetrators. For me, a criminal is a criminal, especially those who have been sentenced regardless of whether they served that sentence or not,” Niksic said.

He reiterated that for him there is no dilemma and that war criminals are criminals.

“For me, there is no dilemma, these are the people who marked their lives by inflicting pain on people, especially the innocent victims. I am taking the opportunity as Prime Minister to apologize. Moral responsibility exists and I said that I don’t agree with the Minister's opinion. She has the right to her opinion and attitude,” he concluded.

Earlier today Murat Tahirovic, the president of the Association of Genocide Victims and Witnesses sent an open letter to the FBiH Prime Minister, Nermin Niksic asking him to distance himself from the Minister and her statements.

“I am sending this letter to you on behalf of the association of victims and witnesses of genocide April 16, Ahmici, following the shameful statements of the FBiH President [Lidija Bradara] in which she publicly denied the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) verdicts and glorified the convicted war criminal, as well as those of the Minister in your Government, Sanja Vlaisavljevic, who publicly supported and glorified the convicted war criminals, practically denying the verdicts and supporting the position of the FBiH President,” Tahirovic wrote, among other things.

“Your Minister's statements on the day of the presentation of [High Representative Christian Schmidt’s] Report at the UN are a mockery of justice and truth, an undermining of peace, a direct attack on the victims, but also a denial of the ICTY verdicts. We ask that you to publicly disassociate yourself from the Minister's statement and take measures and actions aimed at protecting the constitutional order and peace of FBiH and BiH, and that as FBiH Prime Minister, you protect us, victims of war crimes, from denying and glorifying crimes and criminals. Otherwise, we will consider the position of the Minister to be the position of the Government headed by you,” the letter concluded.
Emir Hadzihafizbegovic, a prominent Bosnian actor also reacted to the scandalous statements by Minister Vlaisavljevic by submitting his irrevocable resignation as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cinematography Fund, which belongs to the FBiH Ministry of Culture and Sports.

“Her [Vlaisavljevic’s] statement that the mass murderer from Ahmici and Hague convict Dario Kordic, who killed children, elderly and newborn babies in cradles in the village of Ahmici, should be rehabilitated deserves police detention and questioning, and not allow the Minister in question to be in charge of an important Ministry,” he said.

He added that he hopes that the other two Cinematography Fund’s Board of Directors, Milan Trivic and Antonio Beus, will do the same as him.

“And finally, I will file a private lawsuit against Sanja for supporting a mass murderer and executor from Ahmici,” Hadzihafizbegovic concluded.

The Democratic Front (DF) Caucus in the FBiH Parliament’s House of Representatives submitted a request for the dismissal of Sanja Vlaisavljevic to the parliamentary procedure, due to, “scandalous and insulting statements about the need to rehabilitate war criminals.”

“We believe that Ms Sanja Vlaisavljevic directly violated the oath which she undertook to respect the FBiH Constitution and the rule of law, that her statement given in the media meets the prescribed conditions for the existence of a well-founded suspicion that she has committed several criminal acts, that she has violated countless victims of the criminal Kordic and all other war criminals, deliberately creating an atmosphere of additional victimization, hopelessness and fear for them, and that these are reasons why she can be declared unworthy of continuing to perform the function of the Minister of Culture and Sports of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” DF stated.