Bosnian Serbs celebrate controversial holiday

Banja Luka (KNA) With a military parade and drone show, ethnic Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina celebrated a controversial holiday to mark the founding day of Republika Srpska on Tuesday evening. The day of remembrance has divided the south-east European country for years. The Bosnian Constitutional Court has repeatedly declared the celebration illegal in the country’s Serb entity, as it discriminates against other ethnic groups.

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik caused renewed political tension. He had recently threatened to secede from the Serb region on several occasions. It was a grievance that the region had been separated from “Mother Serbia” in the course of the peace process following the Bosnian war in 1995, Dodik said at the ceremony.

He also announced that the highest order of the Republika Srpska had been awarded to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The long-standing ally was prepared to “recognise us as a legitimate political entity”, said Dodik. The previous year, the honour had gone to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

More than 100,000 people lost their lives in the Bosnian war, which contributed to the disintegration of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1995. The process of coming to terms with the war continues to this day and is putting a strain on coexistence in the countries of the Western Balkans. At the celebration of the Bosnian Serbs, regional president Dodik described the convicted war criminals of the conflict as freedom fighters.