A morbid, nationalist graffiti appeared on the wall of the City Stadium in Prijedor, on Wednesday, directed against Bosniaks from this north-western Bosnian city.

A new graffiti symbolizing fascism and national hatred has appeared in the city where the most horrific crimes were committed during the 1992-1995 war in BiH. Returnees in this city are also forced to watch murals dedicated to war criminals every day.

The graffiti which says: “Young Balija (a derogatory term for Bosnian Muslims) runs the field, I catch up and cut his throat,” was written on the city football stadium and the city police station characterized it as a crime of spreading national, racial and religious hatred, adding that they are looking for the suspect(s).

After the Srebrenica genocide, Prijedor is the area with the second-highest rate of civilian killings committed during the war. According to the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center (IDC), 4,868 people were killed or went missing in the Prijedor municipality. Among them were 3,515 Bosniak civilians, 186 Croat civilians and 78 Serb civilians. The largest mass grave in the Balkans, Tomasica, was discovered in the vicinity of Prijedor.

The international court in the Hague characterized the Prijedor events of 1992 as having met the “actus reus” (guilty act) of genocide through killing members of the group and causing serious bodily and mental harm to members of the group. But, the requirement of the specific intent to physically destroy was not established beyond a reasonable doubt.

However, the events of 1992 in Prijedor were part of the larger joint criminal enterprise by the Republika Srpska Army to forcibly remove Bosnian Muslims and Croats from large territories of Bosnia.