THOUSANDS OF REPORTS REACH BOSNIA’S PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE: Citizens complain about posts and comments glorifying Ratko Mladić!

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has received several thousand emails from citizens regarding posts and comments on social media and in the media concerning the glorification of Ratko Mladić, who was convicted in a final judgment of genocide and other war crimes, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported today.

More than 50,000 reports have been recorded on the civic initiative platform “Register 145a,” which are forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office after verification.

Denis Džidić, executive director and editor of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) in BiH, told DW that the problem is not a lack of a legal framework, but its implementation.

“There are a large number of reports concerning the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals convicted in final judgments, but there is a very small number of indictments, whose purpose is also to have a deterrent effect,” he added.

There is judicial practice in BiH regarding the criminal offenses of glorifying war criminals and denying genocide, but the number of indictments and convictions is small.

Because of the glorification of Hague convicts Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić, the Court of BiH previously sentenced Miodrag Malić and Vojin Pavlović to prison terms.

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Milorad Dodik and Staša Košarac were also criminally reported for public statements in which they glorified Mladić after his death, while the glorification of the war criminal did not remain solely at the political level.

At the local level, in the Federation of BiH, sanctions are taking more concrete shape, with a doctor at the Tomislavgrad Health Center being fired after posting a photograph on social media and praising the war criminal.

The case was reported to the police, while officials said that there is and will be no place at the institution for the glorification of war criminals.

Media in BiH report that Orašje Cantonal Hospital terminated the freelance engagement of surgeon Đoko Novaković after he posted messages glorifying Mladić on social media.

The Sarajevo Football Club academy ended its cooperation with goalkeeper Veljko Vučetić because of his father’s posts about Mladić.

Ratko Mladić, the former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, died on August 27 in The Hague while serving a life sentence for genocide and war crimes.