Management Board of the Srebrenica Memorial Center: We condemn Schmidt's statement about Alija Izetbegović

(Patria) - The Management Board of the Srebrenica Memorial Center – Potočari Memorial and Cemetery for the Victims of the 1995 Genocide most strongly condemns and rejects the statement by High Representative Christian Schmidt, in which he equated the butcher of Srebrenica and convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić with the first President of the Presidency of the internationally recognized Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Supreme Commander of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the late Alija Izetbegović.

"As members of the Management Board, the body that manages the Memorial Center – a state institution, one of whose responsibilities is the research, organization, and promotion of education about genocide, we consider it completely unacceptable in any context to mention a war criminal convicted of genocide – the greatest crime in Europe after World War II, and the undisputed leader of BiH patriots, whose work and actions were key to the defense and survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Management Board believes that justice and truth must remain the foundation of any discussion about crimes, without equating perpetrators of genocide with those who fought and succeeded in preserving the internationally recognized state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We do not wish to delve into the motives and background of such statements, due to which, among other things, the majority of citizens, including genocide survivors, have completely lost trust in the High Representative, but we want to remind Mr.
Schmidt of some of the key problems faced by genocide survivors and their descendants,
such as discrimination in the education system and denial of genocide.

We call on the High Representative to offer an apology and clarification to the patriots of this country, and to use the very powerful authorities he possesses to make just and civilized solutions, like those in his home country, for a better life for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who managed to survive the butcher Mladić," state the members of the Management Board of the Srebrenica Memorial Center.