News in English     | 09.11.2021. 15:41 |

Serbian police refused to give permission to remove Mladić's mural

FENA Hana Imamović

SARAJEVO, November 9 (FENA) - The International Day against Fascism and Antisemitism is marked on November 9, the day when violence took place on German streets and squares in 1938 and marked the beginning of state organized, legally legitimized and publicly supported persecution of Jews, which ended in the murder of a large number of innocent men, women and children. 

Although anti-fascism is still promoted in the Western Balkans region and significant dates are marked, we face the rhetoric of fascism every day, humiliating others, denying the horrific crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina that are described as the worst since World War II.

At the end of July, former High Representative to BiH Valentin Inzko imposed amendments to the Criminal Code banning genocide denial and glorification of war criminals, which provoked violent reactions and a blockade of state institutions representing the BiH entity Republika Srpska.

Another indicator that a kind of catharsis in the region and BiH is still far away is the fact that the Serbian police banned a rally planned for today, during which a mural of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in the center of Belgrade was to be removed.

One of the founders of Women in Black, Staša Zajović, who leads an organization in Serbia extremely engaged in preserving the truth confirmed by countless verdicts of international and domestic courts, told FENA that on this day we cannot boast of respecting the legacy of anti-fascism.

They are encouraged because, she said, no one is responsible for the actions, and therefore it is not surprising that the police banned the removing of the mural of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in a civilized and dignified manner, in honor of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.

“The ruling regime did not distance itself from the crimes committed by Mladić, a person who is an eternal Serbian hero for the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. This is dangerous for the younger generations, although there are young people among them who have a high awareness of sensitivity and solidarity and are represented by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Serbia (YIHR),” says Zajović.

Zajović points out that catharsis is possible only when it happens on several levels because it is not enough for it to be regulated at the criminal level because there are already a large number of verdicts. It is therefore necessary to respect those judgments and the established facts.

YIHR assessed that "the state has preserved Ratko Mladić's mural" and that the ban on the gathering represents a showdown between the Serbian police and the remnants of Serbia's anti-fascist and peace tradition.

The most wanted fugitive from The Hague, who has been hiding from justice for almost 16 years, was arrested in Serbia on May 26, 2011 and extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague six days later.

The initiative stated that the coordination and removal of the mural was coordinated with the residential community of the building where the mural to Mladić is painted, based on the decision on removal issued by the communal police in Belgrade.

Numerous similar murals have been painted on buildings throughout the BiH entity of Republika Srpska, although changes to the Criminal Code have taken effect, and the BiH Prosecutor's Office has received numerous reports and opened cases of genocide denial and glorification of war criminals.

(FENA) A. B.

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