Bosnian State Court will hopefully confirm the indictment against the Serb nationalists, and judicial institutions will shut down their ‘Ravna Gora Chetnik Movement’, said Bakira Hasecic, the head of the ‘Women – war victim’ Association, after the prosecutors charged the group for inciting national and religious hatred.

The indictment refers to the 2019 gathering in the eastern Bosnian town Visegrad, held under auspices of the ‘Ravna Gora Chetnik Movement’ 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.

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

“When you are a victim it has a strong impact and carries a message to returnees, to both those who already returned and those planning to return once the conditions for that are met. There is no single family in Visegrad without a victim, every second-third woman was raped, many were killed and it all affects the survivors, their family members,” stressed Hasecic.

She recalled that the association she represents pressed charges following the gathering. Hasecic was interrogated in this case as a witness. Many others will testify, according to her.

“I still trust in the judicial system and that it will rule against this and other NGOs dealing with such misdeeds,” Hasecic said. “Ravna Gora (Chetnik movement) is a terrorist organisation to me and many others, which intimidates and calls for new slaughters and rapes.”