Report on BiH Armed Forces and January 9th Classified, Why Minister Pendeš's Report First Appeared in Serbia

By: Nedžad Ahatović

As expected, the report of the BiH Ministry of Defense regarding the parading of the 6th Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of BiH on the occasion of the unconstitutional holiday of January 9th was intended for cover-up, not for determining responsibility within the BiH Armed Forces chain of command.

The report states that the BiH Presidency Chairman Mladen Ivanić received an approved request from the BiH Ministry of Defense for the engagement of an honor guard unit.

I particularly emphasize the part of the report concerning the participation of the 6th Infantry Brigade unit, which states: "The honor guard was performed in coordination with the BiH Presidency protocol and the activity organizer, namely the Sixth Infantry Brigade.".

This way, the fact that it was not an honor guard unit of the BiH Armed Forces that paraded in Banja Luka on January 9th, but a platoon of the 6th Infantry Brigade of the BiH Armed Forces, is being concealed. This is precisely where the violation of the Defense Law lies, which states that the use of BiH Armed Forces units is carried out in accordance with the consensus of all three members of the BiH Presidency.

On the other hand, the 6th Infantry Brigade of the BiH Armed Forces is an operational unit of the BiH Armed Forces that can be used only with strict adherence to legal protocols, which require the consensus of all three members of the BiH Presidency for an order regarding its use to be transmitted through the Ministry of Defense of BiH; the Joint Staff, and the Operational Command to lower command levels. This was absent in the case of Ivanić's request for the parading of the BiH Armed Forces on January 9th in Banja Luka, and therefore it constitutes a serious violation of the BiH Criminal Code, the Defense Law, and the Standard Operating Procedures of the BiH Armed Forces.

This is a very serious accusation based on the fact that Ivanić, as a member of the BiH Presidency, through his conscious political actions, misled the BiH Ministry of Defense and, based on an illegal approval, bypassing his two colleagues in the BiH Presidency, ordered armed soldiers of the 6th Infantry Brigade of the BiH Armed Forces to be deployed on the streets of Banja Luka on January 9th. With this unilateral act, Ivanić violated the principle of single command in the supreme command of the BiH Armed Forces, which consists of all three members of the BiH Presidency.

This has introduced a precedent of a purely ethnic parallel chain of command, which is completely illegal. This means that in a situation where Ivanić deems it necessary to engage the BiH Armed Forces, he personally, without the consensus of the other two members of the BiH Presidency, contrary to the BiH Defense Law and the SOPs of the BiH Armed Forces, could order the engagement of BiH Armed Forces units whose barracks are located in the territory of the Republika Srpska entity, with full combat equipment, combat vehicles, tanks, and personal weapons. Member of the Presidency Mladen Ivanić, regardless of giving a statement to the BiH Prosecutor's Office, is unlikely to be held accountable for the very serious act of attempted armed rebellion, because we all know that there is no rule of law in BiH and that the law is not the same for everyone.

However, the mere statement that the chain of command of the BiH Armed Forces has been compromised is enough for Minister Marina Pendeš to resign immediately, as she is personally responsible for misleading the entire BiH Ministry of Defense due to a mistaken or deliberately mistaken assessment of the intentions of the BiH Presidency member Mladen Ivanić, which turned out to be contrary to the law.

Unfortunately, neither will happen, just as Minister Pendeš will not inform the public about the events concerning the parading of the BiH Armed Forces on January 9th in Banja Luka, even though she herself announced it on the FTV show "Pošteno" (Honestly) which was broadcast shortly after those events.

Instead, the report has been hidden from public view and classified as secret, but this is no obstacle for parts of the report to first appear in the media in Serbia or the Republika Srpska entity.