HAGUE TRIBUNAL AND SARAJEVO COURT RUNNING JOINT ANTI-SERB PROJECT

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, MARCH 8 /SRNA/ – The Hague Tribunal and the Court of BiH are jointly introducing life imprisonment for Serbs because once someone serves a sentence under a Hague verdict, the Sarajevo-based court emerges to organize a new trial, Branimir Kojić, president of the Organization of Families of Captured and Fallen Soldiers and Missing Civilians of Srebrenica, told SRNA.

“They want to keep Serbs imprisoned until the end of their lives. They are even going a step further, as the Court of BiH intends to try Radislav Krstić even though he is still serving a sentence in Estonia,” Kojić said. According to Kojić, Dragoljub Kunarac is the latest in a series of Serbs the Court of BiH wants to sentence again, despite the fact that the Hague Tribunal has already ruled on the case. “Dragomir Vasić is facing indictments from the Court of BiH for the third time. So far they have literally found nothing against him, but it is obvious that someone has an interest in keeping him behind bars, probably because he fits into some quota of Serbs who must be convicted,” Kojić said. SERBS AS "GUINEA PIGS" OF A NEW PRACTICE Kojić said the judiciary is trying to introduce a new practice in which "Serbs would be used as guinea pigs", as if a new experiment were being conducted when it comes to law as a science. He added that one should not forget the "scandalous" Sarajevo verdicts against Milorad Dodik, Vojin Pavlović, and Miodrag Malić. Kojić said that, on the other hand, very few indictments have been filed for crimes against Serbs. “Those that have been filed were done to wash the bloody hands of the perpetrators and those who commanded those crimes. Naser Orić is today a free man because the courts in The Hague and this unfortunate one in BiH obviously helped him in coordination. He is now doing business and mocking Serbian victims every day,” Kojić said. He also pointed to the cases against Ejup Ganić and Atif Dudaković, which he says show no sign of being concluded. “We know those processes will not end because those people must die as 'free men', although God's judgment is the only final and just one, and they know that very well,” Kojić stressed. Kojić pointed out that the request by the BiH judiciary for the extradition of Kunarac is producing results, while this is not the case with Sakib Mahmuljin, who is in Turkiye, or Almir Beganović, who is in the United States, and whom no one wants to extradite for crimes against Serbs in the Srebrenica area. Mahmuljin is wanted by Interpol, according to the BiH judiciary, which, Kojić said, seems to believe that Serbs are not only destined to be imprisoned but are also naive. “The judges from the caliphate are mistaken - because how else should I call them when I see what they are doing and striving for: the dismantling of Republika Srpska and the creation of a caliphate. Because of all this, such a BiH is moving further away from reconciliation, peace, and trust among peoples every day,” Kojić assessed. BLAGOJEVIĆ FACES TWO NEW INDICTMENTS AFTER SERVING SENTENCE Lawyer Miodrag Stojanović, who has defended numerous Serb defendants, said many cases are being reopened, but that the most concrete example is Vidoje Blagojević, against whom two indictments were filed after he served his sentence handed down by the Hague Tribunal. “An indictment has also been filed and confirmed against General Radislav Krstić for events in 1992 in the village of Novoseoci near Sokolac, and then against Dragoljub Kunarac. I am following this carefully for several reasons,” Stojanović told SRNA. He stressed that the lawyers representing them must carefully examine whether the new indictments before the Court of BiH concern acts for which their clients have already been prosecuted by the Hague Tribunal, because in that case, under Article Four of the Criminal Code of BiH, a new trial would not be possible. “However, if these are completely different events not covered by the Hague Tribunal's verdict, a new trial is possible. That happened in the case of Bosniak Naser Orić, who was acquitted for the events of 1995 and then tried for other events and again acquitted,” Stojanović said. However, he added that what causes irritation and distrust is the way this is being done in some other cases. “I will cite the case of Vidoje Blagojević, who was convicted for events in Srebrenica before the Hague Tribunal, and then was met with two indictments for events in 1992 in Zvornik - one covering events from June 3 to June 6, and the other from June 6 to June 10. Is that even possible?” Stojanović asked. He noted that these people have already served long sentences - Kunarac 28 years, Krstić more than 30 years, and Blagojević more than 16 years. "IS THIS A PEN WHERE THEY PICK WHOMEVER THEY WANT?" Stojanović reminded that there was one case that proceeded, referring to Darko Mrđa, who was convicted for part of the events in Prijedor, while another part concerned the Korićanske Stijene case. “This has become a practice, and that is what is dangerous. When it comes to Hague convicts, there were only a few from the Bosniak or Croat peoples before the Hague Tribunal. Of all of them, only one such case was tried before the Court of BiH - Orić, and he was acquitted. There are no other cases. What kind of criteria are those?” Stojanović asked. Asked what this says about the BiH judiciary, Stojanović replied that when people say Serbs are in an unequal position, that has become a pattern, although he says it pains him to say so. “Is this a pen where they pick whomever they want? I often feel like a façade of democratic procedure. I often feel sick, and to witness these things at my age is devastating. I am full of anger, bitterness, and sadness,” Stojanović said. A NEW ROUND OF PROSECUTIONS AND "SECOND HALF" Commenting on this approach of the BiH judiciary, legal expert Ognjen Tadić told SRNA that most officials in the BiH Prosecutor’s Office and Court have no problem with their work being described as biased and unlawful in terms of ignoring reports of war crimes against members of the so-called Army of BiH, the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of BiH, and Muslim paramilitary formations, while simultaneously opening a new round of prosecutions against the same people who have already served sentences or been acquitted in earlier proceedings. “It is clear that their lack of interest in objections from Serb victims or their families stems from their open effort to prevent comprehensive justice and to falsely blacken only one side in the conflict, the Serb one, although it is known that crimes were committed by all sides,” Tadić said. It can be assumed what the strategic goal of such trials is, Tadić added, as for more than two and a half decades they have been accompanied by announcements in political Sarajevo of a so-called "second half" of the conflict in BiH, which would attempt to dismantle the Dayton Peace Accords. “The architects of such a strategy tragically forget that the Serb people are indigenous to this area and have no intention of leaving it, and that universal justice for victims on all sides is the only foundation on which humane relations can be built in both war and peace,” Tadić said.