SDA: The Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina Equates Warring Sides and Creates an Artificial Balance in the Processing of Crimes

SDA strongly condemns this morning's arrest of General Sakib Mahmuljin of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Although we are fully committed to the prosecution of all war crimes, we cannot shake the impression that the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has succumbed to inappropriate political pressures aimed at equating the warring sides and creating artificial balances in the processing of war crimes.

SDA has previously warned about this during the arrests of respected commanders and soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina who unnecessarily went through legal ordeals only to be ultimately acquitted, such as General Sefer Halilović, Naser Orić, and others.

We remind once again that the forces that defended Bosnia and Herzegovina systematically prevented and punished crimes in their ranks, while the forces that carried out aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina systematically planned, organized, encouraged, and executed crimes. The number of crimes committed by the forces that carried out aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina is incomparably greater than the number of crimes committed by individuals in the ranks of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and therefore the creation of artificial balances in the number of initiated criminal proceedings and handed down court verdicts is unacceptable.

SDA believes in the innocence of General Mahmuljin and we are convinced that this will ultimately be proven, as in a number of earlier cases.