Srebrenica Memorial Center could halt operations next week, staff say

The employees said they were being subjected to what they described as “humiliating and degrading para-police and para-intelligence persecution”.

“Our only sin is that we survived genocide and that today, with integrity and backbone, we articulate the interests of survivors, their families and Bosniaks as such,” the signatories said.

The Srebrenica Memorial Center, located in Potocari, commemorates the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces.

The reduced staffing comes amid a dispute over actions by Republika Srpska police and prosecutors from Bijeljina involving the institution.

The Republika Srpska Interior Ministry has rejected claims that it plans a raid or arrests at the Memorial Center, saying police are acting at the request and under the supervision of the Bijeljina District Public Prosecutor’s Office in an investigation concerning suspected tax and contribution evasion.

‘We will refuse any cooperation’

In their statement, the employees said they would refuse to cooperate with institutions they consider illegitimate or without jurisdiction over the Memorial Center, while pledging full cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state-level police and prosecutorial authorities.

“We will open our doors wide to state police and prosecutorial institutions,” they said.

“The Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina and the Bosnian Serb police cannot count on our cooperation. There is no sanction we are not prepared to endure.”

The signatories said they would maintain that position even if it resulted in arrests.

“Even if they arrest all of us, we will not give legitimacy or credibility to this terrible abuse of power whose aim is to discredit the Srebrenica Memorial Center, criminalise both the dead and the living, and drive us out of Srebrenica,” the statement said.

Dispute over jurisdiction

The employees said the Srebrenica Memorial Center is a state-level institution and argued that only Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state authorities have jurisdiction to examine the legality of its operations.

They described the actions they say they have been subjected to as a “para-police and para-intelligence operation” aimed at creating jurisdiction where, in their view, none exists.

They said the alleged objective was to establish the ability, now or in the future, to determine what the Memorial Center is permitted to do, say or publicly articulate.

“We will not participate in this, nor will we provide any cooperation to the enemies of this institution,” the employees said.

The Republika Srpska Interior Ministry disputes that account, saying there is no planned police raid or arrest operation at the Memorial Center and that its involvement is part of an investigation overseen by prosecutors in Bijeljina.

The Memorial Center will continue operating with only essential personnel for now. Its employees are expected to decide jointly next week whether to return to work or completely halt operations.