Intimidation of returnees in the RS does not stop even in the holy month of Ramadan

(Patria) - Intimidation of returnees in the smaller BiH entity remains a sad everyday reality, even 29 years after the end of the aggression on our country.

The vile slogan "Knife, wire, Srebrenica" and the name of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić were found this morning on the wall around the yard of the "Meša Selimović" Elementary School and the premises of FC "Podrinje" in Janja.

Cases of provocations against Bosniak returnees in what many would call the most normal part of the Republika Srpska - the surroundings of Bijeljina - are not so frequent.

The residents of Janja witnessed the last similar provocation during last year's Christmas, but their neighbors of Serbian nationality should certainly justify the previously mentioned epithet of "the most normal" and stop with slogans of disturbing content.

This morning's photographs were shared on his Facebook profile by the Vice President of the Bijeljina City Assembly, Mustafa Gradaščević, who characterized the fact that the graffiti were drawn on objects where there is a daily high concentration of children of Bosniak nationality as particularly concerning.

"The additional gravity of this provocation lies in the fact that it occurs during the month of Ramadan and at a time when the Bosniaks of Semberija are marking the anniversary of the beginning of the exodus and ethnic cleansing from these areas in the 1990s.

This case shows that the nationalist political narrative used in the smaller Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity is taking its toll in real life as well.

As Vice President of the Bijeljina City Assembly, but also as a citizen of Janja, I strongly condemn this offensive, disturbing, and chauvinistic act, and I demand that the competent authorities urgently investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of this crime," stated Gradaščević.

(D.K.)