Three charged with inciting national hatred at 2019 Serb nationalist gathering

N1

Bosnian prosecutors have charged three people for inciting national and religious hatred because they either organised or participated in the 2019 Serb nationalist gathering of the ‘Ravna Gora Chetnik Movement’ in the eastern town of Visegrad.

In March last year, hundreds of sympathisers gathered to pay tribute to the WWII Chetnik leader Draza Mihailovic, who was convicted and executed in 1946 by the then authorities for the war crimes and treason he was charged with.

RELATED NEWS

During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Serb nationalists wearing Chetnik insignia expelled thousands and killed hundreds of ethnic Muslims in Visegrad. Last Sunday, those who attended the gathering sang the songs that glorified atrocities and announced new ones, which outraged the Bosniak returnees in the town.

The March 2019 gathering was condemned by several Bosnian officials, foreign embassies and institutions.

Prosecutors said participants in the event emulated a military line-up and used military terminology and that they gave speeches and played songs that “expresses threat or violence” and “caused anxiety and fear” among the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Prosecutors charged the head of the ‘Ravna Gora Movement of Republika Srpska’, Dusan Sladojevic, as well as participants in the gathering, Slavko Aleksic and Risto Lecic, in regard to the gathering.