SELAK CONDEMNS RISING POLITICAL TENSIONS AND HAGUE MECHANISM'S CONDUCT

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 29 /SRNA/ — True justice and stability are built on every people's right to remember its soldiers with dignity, while remaining committed to peace, the rule of law and coexistence in the region, Republika Srpska Justice Minister Goran Selak said in a statement to SRNA.

Selak said General Ratko Mladić would remain permanently recorded in the history of the Serbian people as the commander who led the Army of Republika Srpska during fateful times of defending the Serb people and establishing the institutional framework of Republika Srpska. He said that expressing condolences and recognizing the historical role of military leaders was an act of respect for one's own history, rather than a platform for division. "We are witnessing certain political actors using every official reaction from Republika Srpska and Serbia to raise tensions and make accusations, even though our intention is not, and never will be, to incite hatred or hurt the feelings of others," Selak stated. He strongly condemned attempts by certain political actors to raise tensions, as well as the conduct of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague. "The death of General Mladić in detention in The Hague is the consequence of a complete absence of empathy and medical ethics on the part of the institutions in The Hague. For months and years, we warned about the dramatic deterioration of his health, while Republika Srpska and Serbia were prepared to provide all necessary guarantees for his treatment while at liberty," Selak said. He stressed that this outcome was the result of an extremely inhumane approach and the unwillingness of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals to heed years of well-founded appeals from the defense, the family and the official authorities of Republika Srpska and Serbia. He reminded that the opinions of independent medical experts who had recommended urgent palliative care were also ignored. "By acting in this manner, this judicial body has, for who knows how many times, demonstrated its political bias, selective approach to justice and systematic violation of the basic human rights of Serb detainees, turning itself into an institution that, instead of upholding the law, dispenses injustice and carries out medical neglect with a fatal outcome," Selak concluded.