Izetbegović demands public apology from Dodik for lies about his father Alija

The Office of the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency Bakir Izetbegović strongly denies and rejects the statement made by Milorad Dodik to the daily newspaper „Glas Srpske“, in which Dodik claims that the SDS leaders are „subjects of Bakir Izetbegović, who lays a wreath at the monument to Tito's partisans, while his father was in the Handžar Division that slaughtered and killed Serbs“, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

- It is a brutal untruth that Alija Izetbegović was a member of the so-called Handžar Division. The truth is that during World War II, Alija Izetbegović was a member of only one army, and that was the Partisan army, as an eighteen-year-old young man. It is a well-known fact that his entire life, his overall political, intellectual and social engagement, was dedicated to the struggle for universal humanistic values - anti-fascism, democracy, freedom and equality of all people regardless of religious or national affiliation, political orientation or ideological leaning - the statement reads.

The Office of the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency demands that Milorad Dodik publicly apologize for the stated untruths. If he does not do so, he will have to prove his claims before the competent court, where he will be held accountable for defamation.

We remind you that this is not the first time Dodik has made false statements about the first late President of the Republic of BiH. He did the same in April 2012 while appearing on Belgrade television B92.