Helez: BiH Prosecutor's Office is under political control, protecting war criminals, HJPC should dismiss Milanko Kajganić

(Patria) - BiH Minister of Defense Zukan Helez condemned the decision of the BiH Prosecutor's Office and the acting prosecutor not to conduct an investigation into the installation of a memorial plaque for war criminal Ratko Mladić at Vraca, calling the decision shameful, scandalous, and morally unacceptable. Mladić, according to Helez, is a symbol of the most heinous crimes committed on European soil after World War II.

"This decision is not a mere oversight, it is a blatant example of institutional glorification of a war criminal and an open alignment of the judiciary with crime, not justice. The way the BiH Prosecutor's Office is trying to justify this decision represents a gross insult to the public's intelligence and a brutal mockery of the basic principles of law, truth, and morality.

Through its actions, and even more so through systemic inaction and selective indictments, the BiH Prosecutor's Office is consciously trying to change the character of the war in our country, equate the victim with the executioner, and relativize adjudicated genocide and a joint criminal enterprise. This is not a coincidence, but a dangerous and conscious attempt at judicial revisionism that erases the lines between aggression and defense, between crimes and victims.

Such actions directly offend the victims of genocide and war crimes, their families, and all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who believe in justice. While memorial plaques for war criminals are tolerated and hushed up, hundreds of war criminals who participated in the genocide against Bosniaks and in a joint criminal enterprise continue to live freely, despite concrete evidence, survivor testimonies, and extensive documentation. The non-prosecution of these crimes is not negligence, it is a conscious political decision," Helez stated in a sharp reaction.

He points out that it is also increasingly evident that the BiH Prosecutor's Office is under direct political pressure and that, especially after the departure of certain foreign diplomats, it no longer acts as an independent judicial institution, but as an instrument of politics that denies crimes, protects war criminals, and prepares the ground for dangerous historical revisionism.

"We call on the OSCE and the High Representative to react urgently and without calculation. Every day of silence from the international community further encourages genocide deniers and undermines the already shaky trust in the judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Silence at this moment means complicity. Furthermore, I demand that the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council immediately initiate proceedings against the acting prosecutor and dismiss Chief Prosecutor Milanko Kajganić, who bears full professional, institutional, and moral responsibility for the work of the BiH Prosecutor's Office and for the shameful decisions made under his mandate.

Bosnia and Herzegovina must not become a country where war criminals are celebrated, genocide is relativized, and justice is consciously stifled. This is not just a legal or political issue, it is a matter of truth, the dignity of victims, and the survival of fundamental civilizational values," Helez concluded.