Mladen Grujicic, the mayor of Srebrenica and a member of Milorad Dodik's Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, confirmed to Radio Free Europe that discussions are underway within "municipal and party bodies" about initiating a change to the name of the municipality of Srebrenica.
“Concrete steps will be known next week,” Grujicic stated without explaining the reason behind the initiative.
His statement follows Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, declaring on Belgrade's TV Happy on May 30, as reported by Radio Television of Republika Srpska, that on July 11 in Srebrenica “no one died, no one was killed, there were no operations on the eleventh.”
“Therefore, some of our people from Srebrenica say they’ve had enough of the lies about all this and have now started an initiative to change the name so that Srebrenica is no longer called Srebrenica but something else. We will see how we develop this,” Dodik said in the interview, according to RTRS.
Dodik’s statement comes after the United Nations General Assembly on May 23 adopted a resolution declaring July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague characterized the crime in Srebrenica as genocide in 2007, a characterization that the official Belgrade and authorities of the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska deny.
In the genocide committed in Srebrenica by the Army of Republika Srpska in July 1995, at least 8,372 Bosniaks were killed.
More than 50 people have been convicted of the Srebrenica genocide, receiving around 700 years of prison sentences, including wartime President of RS Radovan Karadžić and the main commander of the RS Army Ratko Mladic.
What does the law say about changing municipality names in RS?
The Law on Territorial Organization of RS stipulates that an initiative to change the name of a local government unit can be submitted by “the interested assembly of the local government unit or at least 30 percent of voters residing in the area of the local government unit for which the name change is requested.”
The law adds that an initiative submitted by at least 30 percent of voters residing in the area of the local government unit for which the name change is requested must be reviewed by the assembly of the local government unit.
“The initiative for changing the name of the local government unit must be justified and contain reasons that support the name change,” it states.
The initiative is then submitted to the Government of RS through the Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government.
The government makes a decision on the initiative for changing the name of the local government unit after considering the initiative.
If the initiative is accepted, within 30 days from the decision date, the government will draft a bill and submit it for further procedure.
The Srebrenica Municipal Assembly consists of 21 councilors, seven from SNSD, two from the Democratic People's Alliance, one from United Srpska, and one from DEMOS. They form the ruling coalition in that municipality, reminds RFE.
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