Damir Marjanović: The chance given to Šešelj in the October elections is dangerous

"Political 'absurdistan', as a well-known Bosnian-Herzegovinian group would describe it, in which we find ourselves is best illustrated by the fact that the October elections in BiH will also feature a 'so-called party' Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Šešelj. Unfortunately, we are aware of the trend that numerous parties, through their actions, affirm war criminals and deny (abolish) their crimes, but this is the first time that a party is doing this so transparently, through its own name," commented Professor Damir Marjanović, a member of the Presidency of Our Party, on the Central Election Commission's decision today, which enabled the Serbian Radical Party – Vojislav Šešelj to participate in the upcoming elections.

"However, that is not what is most concerning, because there have been and will be bad people, fools, and provocateurs. The old folk saying certainly states, what the wise man is ashamed of, the fool is proud of, and that cannot be changed. But, it simply disgusts you that state institutions do not have a mechanism, or do not want to use it, to prevent the political involvement of criminals from the past war in the current political momentum. The entire political, academic, and NGO sector's work on building peace in BiH is being undermined by such a move by an official state, regulatory, supposedly independent body, and that is what is particularly concerning – that those who are supposed to work for the prosperity of this country and are well-paid for it, instill pessimism, fear, and destabilize our society which is inherently on shaky ground," Marjanović is of the opinion.

We remind you that Šešelj was finally sentenced to ten years in prison this year by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. Šešelj was found guilty on three counts of the indictment for persecution, deportations, and other inhumane acts.