Azem KurticSarajevoBIRNMay 11, 202312:21War victims’ associations claimed that the president and culture and sports minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Federation entity ‘publicly supported and glorified’ convicted war criminals.
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Sanja Vlaisavljevic. Photo: Government of the FBiH.
Two war victims’ associations in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday urged the prime minister of the Croat- and Bosniak-dominated Federation entity, Nermin Niksic, to condemn statements made by the Federation’s president Lidija Bradara and minister of culture and sport, Sanja Vlaisavljevic, claiming that they expressed support for convicted war criminals.
“Following the shameful statement made by the president of the FBiH [Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina], in which she publicly denied the judgments of the ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia] and glorified a convicted war criminal, today your minister Sanja Vlaisavljevic publicly supported and glorified convicted war criminals, effectively denying the [court’s] judgments and endorsing the stance of the president of FBiH,” said a letter sent to Niksic by the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide and the Association of Victims of April 16th Ahmici.
Vlaisavljevic told N1 TV in Sarajevo on Wednesday that war criminals should be considered rehabilitated after serving their prison sentences.
She was referring to Dario Kordic, a wartime Croatian Defence Council commander who was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague of planning and instigating killings in the village of Ahmici and neighbouring hamlets and ethnically cleansing the area.
Kordic was released in 2014 after serving two-thirds of his 25-year sentence.
Vlaisavljevic, a representative of the largest Croat party in the country, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, also praised a statement made by Federation president Bradara in March this year, when she said in a reference to Kordic that “a convicted person who has served their sentence presumably stops being a war crimes convict”.
“She said it very well. That he has served his sentence for a war crime,” Vlaisavljevic said.
“What will we do with those individuals who have served their sentences? They must be rehabilitated. There are provisions in all laws, humanitarian law, and clauses that state that those who have served their sentences must be reintegrated and rehabilitated,” she added.
Denis Zvizdic, the chairman of the Bosnian parliamentary assembly, was among those who criticised Vlaisavljevic’s comments.
“Genocide, war crime, and crimes against humanity do not expire. A convicted war criminal remains a war criminal even after serving the sentence,” Zvizdic said.
“There is no rehabilitation for the crimes committed because we are dealing with mass murderers who pose a threat to society and would repeat their actions if given the opportunity,” he added.
The victims’ associations called on Niksic to “protect us, the victims of crimes, from the denial and glorification of crimes and criminals” and to publicly distance himself from Vlaisavljevic’s comments.
They also sent a letter in March to the Office of the High Representative, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s top international official, demanding the removal of Bradara and calling for her to be banned from holding any further public office.
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