The Embassy of the United States: Ivan Susnjar is not and will not be General Consul in Chicago!

Ivan Susnjar is not and will not be General Consul in Chicago, confirmed the Public Relations Office of the US Embassy for News Agency PATRIA.

At a recommendation by Dragan Covic, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in summer 2015 appointed Susnjar to the position of General Consul, yet the appointment has never been confirmed.

Susnjar came into the limelight after, as the appointed but not confirmed consul, he had presented opinions in the margins of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., which were related to the judiciary processes in BiH. During his stay in Washington, Susnjar met a few senators. His statements about those meetings were cited in BH media outlets 'Vecernji List' and 'Avaz'.

Despite of Susnjar's statements that he came to Washington as newly appointed not-yet-confirmed consul, it has become clear now that he will be able to stay in the US as a private person only.

BH Foreign Ministry confirmed for Patria that all that Susnjar had said in Washington, he had said as a private person and that he has never received an orientation which is a regular procedure for diplomats.

What did Susnjar tell senators?

According to Dnevni Avaz, Susnjar attended very important meetings with foreign diplomats. In the same article, Avaz reported that the US Senator Jim Inhoff organized a Round Table during the National Prayer Breakfast about growing terrorism threat in the Balkans. Also present at the Round Table were Congressmen David Jolly and Robert Aderholt, Senator John McCain, the former Republican candidate for the US President, and the Senator of South Dakota Mike Rounds. The Conference was facilitated by Fatmir Mediu, the former Albanian Defence Minister, and besides him, speakers were politicians from Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Austria, Turkey and the Defence Minister of Macedonia Zoran Jelevski.

Dnevni Avaz reported that the only participant from BiH was Ivan Susnjar, as 'newly appointed general consul of BiH to Chicago'.

According to Dnevni Avaz, also invited to the Round Table were Dragan Lukac, the RS Minister of Interior, who did not attend due to health issues, as well as Fahrudin Radoncic, who in the meantime got arrested.

The newspaper further writes that congressmen and senators were interested to hear about the presence and growth of the domestic radical groups in the Balkans itself, the estimates about numbers of such groups and individuals, as well as possible causes for growth of terrorism in the Balkans states.

They wanted to know what local governments are doing in terms of locating and repressing such issues, and about the interstate cooperation. B&H was not talked about that much. It is only that the representative of Kosovo mentioned how Kosovo and B&H are ahead in terms of number of located radicals – said Susnjar for Vecernji List, which Avaz cited in their article.

Avaz further reports that Susnjar had the honor to meet senator McCain and that he used the opportunity to inform him how indicative it is that Radoncic, as one of few politicians who publicly warned about spreading of radical Islam, was arrested just before his travel to the US to attend the conference.

Last summer, non-governmental organizations organized signing of public petition requesting withdrawal of Susnjar's name from the list of general consuls of B&H. The petition was signed by Senad Pecanin, Slavo Kukic, Jasmila Zbanic, fra Mile Babic, Ahmed Buric, fra Petar Jelec, Zlatko Dizdarevic and other public figures from B&H. Notwithstanding the petition, the Presidency did not withdraw its decision.