BiH’s anti-fascists, WWII veterans condemn “equating” of Chetniks and Partisans

RTS
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The Union of Anti-Fascists and veterans of the People's Liberation War of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SABNOR) condemned the “shameful” act of equating former Yugoslav President, Josip Broz Tito, and the former leader of the nationalist Chetnik movement, Dragoljub ‘Draza’ Mihajlovic, at an event in Belgrade on May 9, Victory Day.

Victory Day was marked on Sunday with an event at the National Theater in Belgrade where photos of Mihajlovic and Tito were displayed next to each other.

Tito and Mihajlovic were in this way “put on the same level,” the SABNOR BiH said.

The association noted that the Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, also attended the event and expressed support for “such revisionism of history and historical facts.”

“We strongly condemn such representation of our homeland, and we ask the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to take a position on this issue, as a matter of urgency,” it said.

It also asked the BiH Presidency to inform the citizens “which government body decided to equate the Chetnik and Partisan movements.”

“If there is no such decision, we ask the judicial bodies of BiH, but also the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to take all legal measures so that everyone who shames the state in this way, regardless of their position, is adequately sanctioned and removed from public space. Otherwise, we have no choice but to call on the people to defend the homeland and the most honourable part of its historical heritage,” it said.

SABNOR called on “all antifascists from the states that emerged from the disintegration of Yugoslavia, to unite, just as Tito’s partisans were united, to oppose the ghosts of neo-fascism, which raised its head, and cut it at the root.”

“Let us be worthy of those whose works we inherit! Death to fascism – freedom to the people!” SABNOR concluded.