Elmedin Konakovic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
In a letter addressed to all United Nation members and broadcast by Sarajevo’s FTV on Sept. 10, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic demanded that the U.N. condemn the glorification of late Gen. Ratko Mladic, who was serving a life sentence in The Hague for genocide and other war crimes, and introduce sanctions against Serbian officials.
“Every member country of the U.N. should publicly condemn, officially and institutionally, the glorification of Ratko Mladic – the use of state resources, military structures and honors and the publicizing of his image along with the words ‘Straight to Potocari’ as a direct call to genocidal violence and an alarming threat of its recurrence,” Konakovic wrote.
Konakovic, who is also the leader of the People and Justice party, called on all U.N. members to levy targeted sanctions and other restrictive measures against Serbia’s officials and others who “directly organize, participate in, promote or enable the official and institutional glorification of persons legally convicted of genocide and other grave international crimes.”
The missive went on to stress that the Serbian state participated in returning Mladic’s remains to the country, organized a memorial and allowed Mladic to be buried in Belgrade with state and military honors.
Konakovic pointed out that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide obligates its signatories to prevent and punish genocide, adding that the U.N. Charter, too, requires international peace and security, justice and respect of human rights.
“These obligations were fundamentally violated when a person legally convicted of genocide was transformed into a national hero via state institutions,” Konakovic concluded.
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