Victims association presses High Rep Schmidt to stop denial and glorification of crimes in RS

The Association stated that a mural featuring the image of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic was painted in the settlement of Mejdan, near the “Mozaik prijateljstva” public kitchen, located in the municipal building of the city of Banja Luka.

They reminded that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Serge Brammertz, has repeatedly reported on Serbia’s harmful policy, where over 150 murals of war criminals have been installed in central Belgrade alone, with more than three hundred across various locations in Serbia. Unfortunately, the same tendency is present in Republika Srpska – from Foca, Nevesinje, Trebinje, Bratunac, Kalinovik, Banja Luka, and other locations.

“It remains only for Serbia, which for decades has been hiding and protecting war criminals from criminal prosecution, to transfer these same criminals to the Republika Srpska entity and place them under the protection of Milorad Dodik. According to public statements and messages being sent, it is precisely the war criminals and their glorification that serve as instruments of the current authorities in the RS, with the aim of maintaining and strengthening the policies that in the 1990s led to genocide and mass crimes,” the Association stated.

They added that last night’s mural installation on the Banja Luka municipal building is just one of a series of actions indicating the alarming practices of the current RS authorities and potentially signaling an attempt to revive the scenarios of the 1990s.

“We believe that any hesitation or inaction by the international community, and particularly the High Representative, could pave the way for further destabilization, which is continuously signaled from Republika Srpska. We call on you to react urgently and use your authority to remove these threats to the peace, security, and constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to sanction those responsible,” the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide stated.