If police officers are punished for "lilies", they should also be punished for the RS flag and the so-called Herceg-Bosna

An investigation has been launched against police officers in Vlasenica because one of them posted a photo of the Bosnian flag with lilies on the social network Facebook, reports the BH News Agency Patria.

These are Bosniak police officers Rašid Zekić, Esmir Saračević, and Elvir Patković.

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The Public Security Center in Bijeljina, whose inspectors are conducting the investigation, confirmed that the investigation against the three police officers was opened due to the use of the flag with lilies, and the explanation states that members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina also used this flag during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992.

The photograph, in which the police officers are draped in the flag with lilies, was taken at the Bilino Polje stadium in Zenica, during a match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belgium in 2009. One of the police officers recently posted the photo on his Facebook profile, which has caused significant headaches for all three of them.

As a reminder, the first flag of the independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted after the declaration of independence in 1992, is a white flag with a shield of golden lilies, which was adopted from the first Bosnian king of the 14th century, Tvrtko Kotromanić.

The flag was replaced because it was considered too Bosnian-oriented.

Kasim Trnka, a professor at the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo, told the Patria agency that the police officers did not violate any laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina in any segment by using the flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina with lilies, as they used the then official flag of an internationally recognized country as fan memorabilia.

- If the police officers from Vlasenica were to face any sanctions for using the flag with lilies, it would mean that those who use the flag of Republika Srpska or the so-called Herceg-Bosna should face the same sanctions, because those flags were also used by armies since 1992 - said Trnka.

The President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marinko Čavara, keeps the flag of Croatia in his office, in addition to the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the institutions in the BiH entity of Republika Srpska, the flag of RS is also displayed, which was carried as insignia by members of the Army of RS, who are responsible for many crimes during the aggression against BiH, and many of them are currently on trial before domestic and international courts for various crimes in The Hague.