Islamic Community condemns attacks on returnees: BiH authorities must guarantee security

Regarding attacks and harassment of returnees in the smaller BiH entity, the Public Relations Office of the Riyaset issued a press release, most strongly condemning these attempts to intimidate returnees, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

- In the past few weeks, especially after the verdict of the international tribunal in The Hague was announced, the first president of Republika Srpska for committed genocide and the acquittal of the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, attacks and harassment of returnees in RS have become more frequent. The most brutal was the attack on the chief imam in Vlasenica, Nurdin-ef. Grahić, and his family. The Islamic Community most strongly condemns this, as well as other attempts to intimidate returnees, especially when officials and religious authorities, as well as Islamic Community facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are targets of threats.

We call on all competent state authorities to do the job they are responsible for and to fulfill their constitutional obligation to ensure the protection of the rights of every citizen to a peaceful and free life, throughout the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We specifically ask the Minister of Security of BiH to publicly condemn these attacks on the persons and property of returnees, and to take the necessary measures to prevent such occurrences from happening again. We call on the Minister of Internal Affairs of RS to ensure a quality investigation so that the perpetrators of these criminal acts are arrested as soon as possible, and that police authorities prevent these harassments from recurring through their preventive actions. We ask the judicial authorities to adequately sanction these criminal acts so that the perpetrators do not repeat them.

The Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina strongly stands behind its officials and members who face such and similar threats. We will resolutely insist on demands that the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina guarantee the security of all citizens throughout the entire territory of the state. If the state authorities are unable to ensure the security of returnees for a peaceful and free life, we will demand the intervention of the OHR, which has the mechanisms to react, it is stated at the end of the press release from the Public Relations Office of the Riyaset.