Mickoski silent over minister praising Ratko Mladić, asks Filipche
Filipche asks whether the prime minister’s silence amounts to tacit support after government members paid tribute to Mladić.
Venko Filipche, presented as leader of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), pressed Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski to explain his silence over behaviour by his minister Ivan Stoilkovic that Filipche says glorified the convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladić.
Speaking at a press conference, Filipche said the public is watching how the Government reacts in different cases and singled out what he described as the prime minister’s failure to respond when members of the cabinet paid tribute to Mladić.
Filipche warned of the gravity of the praise and recalled Mladić’s crimes: "Certain members of the Government paid tribute to the war criminal Ratko Mladić some time ago. And the prime minister did not react at all. A man who participated in the genocide in Srebrenica, who was directly responsible for the deaths of men, women, children. A man who mocked families who testified against him during the trial in The Hague, making a throat‑cutting gesture with his finger, mocking them," he said.
He asked whether Mickoski’s silence should be read as tacit endorsement: "There are people who sat in the Government, a recent deputy prime minister, now a minister in the Government, who comes out and celebrates his name. What does Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski want to say? That he supports him? And probably that he thinks the same as him, but he does not dare to say it publicly, so he does not sanction him," Filipche said.
Filipche also linked the same pattern of conduct to the authorities’ handling of the tragedy in Kochani and their treatment of victims’ families. "But from people who sat in front of the parents of the deceased children in Kochani, in the Assembly hall, and mocked them to their faces, I expect nothing else," he said.
The SDSM statement noted there have been no resignations from Ivan Stoilkovic and Kitanovic and asserted that Mickoski’s inaction amounts to confirmation that "Ratko Mladić is also his general." Filipche urged the prime minister to clarify publicly whether he condones ministers who celebrate a convicted war criminal.
Photo: press material from the event
