VLEN condemns glorification of Ratko Mladić, points to institution head rather than minister’s party

VLEN strongly condemned any glorification of the Chetniks and in particular of Ratko Mladić, who was convicted of genocide and other serious crimes and "died yesterday in The Hague," the party said in a reaction after several social-media posts praising the former Bosnian Serb Army commander appeared online.

VLEN's statement singled out the fact that some of those posts came from an institutional official rather than naming the political party directly, raising additional concern about the message sent by public institutions.

Who the party appears to target

In its reaction VLEN wrote: "Even more worrying is when such content is published by the head of an institution whose task is to protect the rights of Albanians and other communities. This is not a matter of personal tastes or beliefs. This is a matter of the standards of a public official and of the message that institutions send to citizens. VLEN demands immediate accountability. One who does not respect the victims and the values of coexistence cannot be the guarantor of the rights of communities."

The response followed criticism from the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which accused the ruling party of staying silent about a post by its coalition partner, the Democratic Party of the Serbs in Macedonia, that treated Mladić with apparent reverence after his death.

Careful reading of VLEN's wording shows the party pointed primarily to Dalibor Kitanović, the director of the Agency for the Realisation of the Rights of Communities, rather than explicitly naming the post shared by the party of the current Minister of Local Self-Government, Ivan Stoilković.

The Facebook post on the minister's party page was published in Serbian and described Mladić as "a soldier, a general and a man who placed his whole life in the service of the army and of the people to whom he belongs." Kitanović posted a photo composition on his Instagram account that presented Mladić alongside Serbian historical figures including Draža Mihailović, with large letters reading "Generals of the heavenly army."

Opposition party SDSM demanded answers from Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, saying a minister in the government praising a convicted war criminal is not a private opinion but a signal that such views have space in the executive branch. DUI said VLEN bears political responsibility for its coalition partner's conduct and called for the dismissal of ministers it holds accountable.

Photo: Arhiva