The Mayor of the Municipality of Sokolac, Milovan Bjelica, stated in response to the filing of criminal charges against him in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for alleged glorification of the criminal Radovan Karadzic, the first president of Republika Srpska, that this case involves the threat to freedom of speech and the denial of elementary facts that occurred in recent history.
“The fact is that Radovan Karadzic was the first president of Republika Srpska, and he was elected by the Serb people. We have been electing our presidents for almost 30 years, but in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they are trying to dispute that freedom of choice, as well as freedom of speech and opinion,” said Bjelica.
He dismissed the unfounded charges from the federal Minister of Internal Affairs, Isak Rama, and the so-called Institute for Research of Genocide Canada, questioning why this institute and the minister did not sue the leadership of the SDA, which, even after the verdict, glorified and defended the war criminal Sakib Mahmudin and others.
Considering that he is called to answer for the publicly expressed views that he committed the criminal act of incitement to national, racial, and religious hatred, discord, and intolerance, Bjelica asked whether the same rules apply to all three peoples or exclusively to the Serb.
“Does the federal minister, with such actions, sow discord among the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina? Do those in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina who glorify and defend crimes against the Serb people and those who committed them also sow hatred? Why do certain provisions of the Criminal Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina apply exclusively to the Serb people?” asked Bjelica.
He reiterated that he has never spread hatred and that having his own views and personal national respect is everything but hatred towards others.
“All of this is part of a project being implemented with the logistics of the international community – to silence the Serb people, devalue everything Serb – from history, language, culture, existence in these areas, and carefully cultivate the psychology of victimhood among Bosniaks and convince the world public that Serb are a ‘genocidal’ people. If there were a mechanism to forbid us from thinking and remembering who we are and how much we are worth, they would do it,” concluded the high-ranking SDS official.
Source: RTRS
