IGK wrote to Schmidt: Remove the Mayor of Srebrenica Mladen Grujičić

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Institute for Genocide Research Canada sent an open letter to the High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt, calling on him to remove the Mayor of Srebrenica Municipality Mladen Grujičić, in accordance with the amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH imposed by former High Representative Valentin Inzko, which prohibit the denial of genocide, glorification of war crimes and war criminals....  

"A member of the Scorpions unit, Saša Cvjetan, convicted of war crimes in Kosovo, was a 'VIP' guest at the celebration of Srebrenica Municipality Day. He sat in the front row when, on March 11 this year, in the large hall of the Cultural Center in Srebrenica, the Municipality Day was solemnly celebrated in the municipality where genocide was committed against Bosniaks. The Scorpions were, in July 1995, one of the units whose members, in front of cameras, killed captured Srebrenica residents," the IGR states in the open letter.

They add that war criminal Saša Cvjetan spent 16 years in prisons in Serbia before being released on parole on March 22, 2018.

"He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for war crimes against Albanian civilians in Podujevo, committed in March 1999. He was found guilty of murdering 14 Albanian civilians, women and children, members of the Bogujevci family. The Peace Implementation Council in BiH, at its meeting in Bonn in December 1997, gave the High Representative in BiH the possibility to use the Bonn powers. The Peace Implementation Council in BiH then, elaborating on Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement which defined the powers of the High Representative, enabled the High Representative to remove from office public officials who violate legally assumed obligations and the Dayton Peace Agreement, and, when he deems it necessary, to impose key laws if they are not adopted by the legislative bodies of BiH. By inviting a convicted war criminal, Saša Cvjetan, to attend the celebration of Srebrenica Municipality Day, Mayor Mladen Grujičić grossly denied the verdicts of the highest legal authorities in the world, the courts of the United Nations, by glorifying a convicted war criminal, which is a destructive political affirmation of genocide in the name of denying genocide and glorifying convicted war criminals, all with the aim of humiliating and intimidating surviving victims of genocide," the IGR states.

They emphasize that "he who denies international law and justice, he who denies the adjudicated genocide, he who glorifies war criminals considering them heroes, he who does not treat all citizens equally cannot be the mayor of Srebrenica, the city symbol of the greatest crime after World War II in Europe, the genocide in Srebrenica."

"Denial of genocide and glorification of war criminals is punishable in BiH. Namely, in the 'Official Gazette of BiH' on July 27, 2021, the amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH were published, which were imposed on July 23 by the then High Representative Valentin Inzko. In the name of genocide researchers and human rights and freedoms activists, members of the International Expert Team of the Institute for Genocide Research Canada, in the name of truth and justice, in the name of a better future for Srebrenica, the symbol of the greatest crime after the Holocaust in Europe, a crime celebrated by the aforementioned mayor, in the name of a better state of BiH and in the name of peace and stability in the region, we ask you to remove the Mayor of Srebrenica Municipality Mladen Grujičić.  We remind you that the position of Mayor of Srebrenica Municipality should never have been given to a denier of genocide, a person who humiliates victims of genocide, humiliates international law and international courts, a person who does not recognize the United Nations, a person who considers the ideologues and perpetrators of genocide as heroes and allows the parading of Chetnik formations through a city that has more victims of genocide than inhabitants," the IGR concludes in the open letter.