PEN Centre of BiH Refuses Membership to Three Major BiH Writers

The Electoral Assembly of the PEN Centre of BiH, held today in Sarajevo, did not accept the candidacy for membership of three prominent Bosnian-Herzegovinian writers: Abdulah Sidran, Džemaludin Latić and Amir Brka, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

Sidran, who is one of the founders of the PEN Centre in BiH, left its membership in 2001, but Sidran's return to PEN Centre membership was proposed again in April this year, but it was not approved today at the Electoral Assembly.

For Patria's interlocutors, the non-admission of three major BiH writers to the PEN Centre of BiH is a great shame and defeat for this organization, which in other countries enjoys great prestige in society.
They note that today's scandal is just another confirmation that the PEN Centre of BiH is run by an illegitimate leadership, whose mandate was extended in April this year outside the procedure.

Writer Ivan Kordić tried to point this out today at the very beginning of the Electoral Assembly, but was quickly silenced, writes Patria.