Ošap Gaćanović abused her position: Sent a letter to the Tešanj Museum without the knowledge of the Commission members, no stamp or date!?

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

The current chairwoman of the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments of BiH, Anđelina Ošap Gaćanović, abused her official position by sending a letter to the Tešanj Museum without the knowledge of the other Commission members, and the letter was also without the institution's stamp!



Namely, at the last session of the Commission, the first item was the rejection of the petition to declare Adem-aga Mešić's villa a national monument.

However, the session was interrupted and nothing was adopted. In the meantime, the petition was withdrawn, but Anđelina Ošap Gaćanović, a commission member from RS, as chairwoman, wrote a letter to the petitioners and signed the commission's stance that the petition was rejected!

The other members of the Commission learned about this act, which is a criminal offense of abuse of position, a month later when a letter arrived from the Tešanj Museum, i.e., the petitioners.

Namely, in the letter addressed to the Commission members on November 18, signed by the director of the Public Institution Museums of Tešanj, Mensura Mujaknović, it was immediately stated that the letter arrived without a stamp, protocol number, and date of dispatch.



The letter also states that Ošap Gaćanović first went to the media and politically exploited the story, in a way that connected the entire case with SDA.

“Recent events and changes to the Law in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, regarding national monuments, indicate who is behind all of this,” it is stated.

Attention was also drawn to the fact that Ošap Gaćanović cannot give them history lessons.

“One of the most valuable architectural objects in this city is the family villa of Adem-aga Mešić, unique for its pronounced elements of Alpine and Bosnian style. Colleague Jasmin Mandžukić – a respected history professor, cultural worker, and senior curator – submitted the initiative, as his profession requires. As an objective expert, he did so not to rehabilitate Ustashas and their leaders, but because of the architectural value of this house,” the response states.

Now the question is who will file a criminal complaint against Ošap Gaćanović, given the visible abuse of position, because she sent the letter to the Tešanj Museum on her own initiative.

Otherwise, such an approach, which only focuses on historical facts and not architecture, is unacceptable to many, as it contributes to the distortion of historical facts and allows for double standards in decision-making on important national monuments. This was precisely evident in this case when Ošap Gaćanović interpreted the story of Ademaga's villa differently from the bridge in Goražde, for which, when it was discussed, the explanation focused exclusively on the architectural characteristics of the object, without mentioning the historical events related to the bridge.

Otherwise, Ademaga Mešić was a politician and a member of the Ustasha movement during World War II. He actively supported the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) regime and participated in the implementation of their policies. As such, he remains a controversial figure in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, given that he was part of the Ustasha movement responsible for numerous crimes against Serbs, Jews, and other opponents of the regime.