Strujić Harbić: EU should consider banning entry to public officials who participate in glorifying war criminals

People who, from public office, glorify individuals convicted with final judgments of genocide and turn war criminals into political role models must face consequences. First of all, I would once again call on the institutions of the system to react. Also, the European Union should consider banning entry and introducing other restrictive measures against public officials who actively participate in glorifying war criminals. European values cannot simply be a chapter in negotiations that is closed with a piece of paper. They must have a boundary - a civilizational and moral one – member of the Montenegrin Parliament from the Bosniak Party, Kenana Strujić Harbić, said in a statement to Portal ETV commenting on a statement by the President of the Municipality of Pljevlja, Dario Vraneš, in which he glorified war criminal Ratko Mladić and denied the genocide in Srebrenica.

For civic activist and political scientist Emir Pilav, Vraneš’s statement comes as no surprise.

- Because we have witnessed what he has been doing in Pljevlja and the way he has been doing it for years. He has deepened divisions among people, all with the approval of his coalition partners, the Europe Now Movement and the Democrats, and with the silence and disregard of the prosecution and the police - Pilav stressed.

WILL THE INSTITUTIONS FINALLY START DOING THEIR JOB?

In his statement to our portal, in which he confirmed that he had attended the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić, Vraneš made the disturbing claim that „the Srebrenica project is the product of power centers trying to create eternal enmity and conflict between Serbs and Bosniaks-Muslims and to rule through those divisions“.

In Srebrenica in 1995, after Mladić’s military and paramilitary units took control of the area on July 11, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed over the course of approximately ten days in what was then a United Nations-protected zone.

The head of the Municipality of Pljevlja, in addition to denying the genocide, also said that he believed „both Serbs and our Bosniak-Muslim brothers of the same blood and Islamic faith will have the wisdom to overcome all the provocations imposed on us by those who wish neither side well“.

- The real question is whether the prosecution will continue to „monitor and assess“ whether there are elements of a criminal offence, as it did in the case of the previous post - an obituary in which he glorified convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić, or whether the institutions will finally start doing their job - Strujić Harbić said.

She recalled that she had repeatedly warned that Pljevlja had been going through the most undignified period in its recent history for the past six years.

- And every time we think that the political and social bottom has been reached, Vraneš makes an effort to prove us wrong and show that there is always another metre further down. His latest statement perhaps best, and almost symbolically, illustrates all of his „consistency and seriousness“. It is a statement that makes every normal person feel as though they are undergoing a mental lobotomy while trying to understand its logic, and I believe that even its author would have to read it several times before ultimately understanding what he actually wanted to say – Strujić Harbić emphasized, adding „that when a public official goes to pay tribute to someone who has been finally convicted of genocide, that is a political act“.

PLJEVLJA HAS NEVER BEEN MORE HUMILIATED

Emir Pilav also said that „we have yet to see once again whether the prosecution will remain silent in the face of Vraneš’s destructive, fascist and anti-civilizational behavior, or whether it will finally take some action“.

- Pljevlja has never been more humiliated than it is now - he stressed.

As the elections approach, Pilav is convinced, there will be more and more such cases in which idleness, incompetence and poor results are concealed using the familiar formula - stoking national tensions.

- However, when it comes to Vraneš, such topics are his everyday reality, but they also serve to remind us once again that he has nothing to offer except hatred and a destructive and toxic narrative. It is particularly devastating that at the head of Pljevlja, a city that was once an example of culture, community and tolerance, sits a man who, as he himself said, would postpone his own mother’s funeral in order to attend another person’s funeral, in this case - the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić - Pilav said.

He also recalled that on election day in 2020, Vraneš „stopped Muslim fellow citizens, calling them Turks and subjecting them to volleys of profanity and insults“.

- That tells us all what kind of person he is. And it is not as though we did not already know. It is sad that there has been no reaction even from Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, who is from Pljevlja, although I do not expect one, because, as he himself has said, these are „village issues“ for him. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank his coalition partners - the Democrats and the Europe Now Movement - for all these years of approving and remaining silent about these narratives, particularly when it comes to Vraneš - Pilav concluded.

Ratko Mladić was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws or customs of war committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The man behind the most monstrous crime on European soil since the Second World War died in prison in The Hague, the Netherlands, on August 27, and was buried with military honors in Belgrade on September 7.

Dario Vraneš is one of numerous public officials in Montenegro who deny the genocide in Srebrenica and glorify the monstrous war criminal Mladić.