The Bosnian court suspends the school module that presents war crimes convicts as heroes

2024-10-11 18:15:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Bosnian court suspends the school module that presents war crimes convicts

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday suspended a part of the primary education curriculum in the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, which features Serbs convicted of war crimes during the 1992/1995 war as heroes.

The Ministry of Education of the Republika Srpska brought a module about the war in Bosnia and its causes from the Serbian perspective for ninth grade students.

According to this module, the former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karad?i?, and the commander-in-chief of the then Serbian army, Ratko Mladi?, are portrayed as historical figures who enabled the creation of the Republika Srpska.

Karad?i? and Mladi? have been sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes and genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Bosnia's devastating war, which killed more than 100,000 people and displaced an estimated two million, ended after a US-sponsored peace deal known as the Dayton Accords.

With the Dayton Agreement of 1995, Bosnia is divided into two autonomous entities - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska - plus the Brcko County, which is a self-governing administrative unit. All together are under the umbrella of the federal government and the rotating presidency.

In a session on Friday, the court decided to suspend with immediate effect the part of the curriculum that deals with the war and the creation of the Serbian entity, following the request of 13 members of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Explaining the temporary suspension pending a final decision, the court said the implementation of that curriculum module risks causing further divisions and divisions among students of different ethnicities.

In practice, the multi-ethnic court has limited power to enforce its decisions.

Republika Srpska has recalled Serbian judges in protest against the continued presence of foreign judges serving under the peace agreement.

Serbian leaders say they do not respect court rulings and have ignored them in the past.

The leader of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who is sanctioned by Britain and the United States for violating the provisions of the Dayton Agreement, has repeatedly called for the separation of the Serbian entity from Bosnia and its union with Serbia./ Rel