Šalaka: Efendić ordered us to remove the mural because we thanked him for blocking the construction of a memorial

The Association of Fighters, Minor Volunteers of the Defensive-Liberation War 92-95 of Sarajevo Canton received an order from the Inspection Service of the Novi Grad Municipality to remove a mural from the facade of a residential building at Olimpijska Street number 1, reports the Patria news agency.

- The reason given was that we did not have a building permit. The truth is that we did not have one because we did not build anything. However, we also did not have a building permit when we painted the mural located 150 meters from the mural that is not disputed, and now this one is disputed - explains Kemal Šalaka, president of the Association, for the Patria news agency.

He notes that for both murals they obtained consent from the building residents, consent from the building manager, and urban planning consent from the Novi Grad Municipality.

- The only difference between these two murals is that on this one, which we are supposed to remove, we placed plaques with "thanks" to Mayor Semir Efendić and his assistant for urban planning, who obstructed the construction of the central memorial for the killed and deceased minor volunteers of the past war. This is a shameful act by the Novi Grad municipal administration and Mayor Efendić - emphasizes Šalaka.

The minor fighters of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina made a huge contribution to the defense of Sarajevo during the siege by the Army of Republika Srpska, which lasted from 1992 to 1995. Over the four years of fighting, more than 700 minor fighters were killed. With the murals, they wanted to preserve the memory of them, but the local authorities do not allow it.