Suljagic: Sarajevo’s ‘meritorious elite’ decided to hand Srebrenica Memorial Center over to ‘the wolves’

Suljagic did not specify whom he was referring to.

In a post, he said that, due to the nature of some of the developments surrounding the Memorial Center – beyond the questioning of its associates – he was not yet able to speak publicly about everything the institution was facing.

Suljagic described those he was referring to as people who had enjoyed unconditional trust and political space in Sarajevo, although, according to him, almost everything they had touched had failed.

He claimed they had now decided to hand the Memorial Center over to “the wolves”, and alleged that the goal was to have him imprisoned and to politically and institutionally discredit the Center so that control over it could be taken.

“The Memorial Center is nobody’s private fiefdom,” Suljagic said, adding that the institution was neither a reward for political loyalty nor “spoils” for those who had spent years in Sarajevo offices.

He said neither he nor the Memorial Center’s employees had had their final say.

Dozens of associates questioned

Suljagic’s statement comes after 26 current and former associates of the Srebrenica Memorial Center were summoned for questioning at a local police station in late July, on the orders of the District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina.

Suljagic said at the time that the summonses arrived a day after the presentation of the Memorial Center’s annual Genocide Denial Report.

By early August, the number of people summoned had risen to 28. According to media reports, the investigation concerns alleged tax evasion.

Suljagic has denied any irregularities in the Center’s operations, saying the institution operates through Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state treasury and has received positive audit opinions year after year.

Police sources in Republika Srpska said at the time that this was a regular case in which preliminary investigative measures were being carried out to examine allegations contained in an earlier complaint. They said no report alleging that a criminal offence had been committed had been filed.

The complaint concerning alleged irregularities was filed in 2025, while the Bijeljina prosecutor’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

RS Vice President Camil Durakovic subsequently requested information on who had decided to launch the investigation and for what purpose.

Suljagic had also criticised the Memorial Center’s governing body in July, accusing it of failing to protect the institution and its employees and instead pursuing its own policies.

At the time, he also expressed concern that documents containing the names and personal information of the Center’s associates had, according to his claims, been unlawfully removed from the institution.