The Bielopolska Higher State Prosecutor's Office is still determining whether and who, in July of last year, in Petnjica, caused national, racial and religious hatred by glorifying a great war criminal Osman Rastoder.
The spokesperson of that prosecution, the prosecutor Hasan Lukač, "Vijesta" replied that statements were taken from several people in that investigation.
The investigation was initiated after, at the end of July, a screening of the documentary film "Osman ef. Rastoder - Liberation from oblivion", author Avda Huseinović.
The authorities of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia declared Rastoder a war criminal after the end of World War II, and the leader of the so-called Muslim militia, a kind of paramilitary formation that collaborated with the fascists, was killed in January 1946 under completely unclear circumstances.
"On the occasion of the promotion of a documentary film in Petnjica called 'Osman ef. Rastoder, Oslobođenje zabrava'...The Higher State Prosecutor's Office in connection with the mentioned event formed a case on the basis of texts published in the media and addressed a request to the Police Directorate - Berana Security Center to collect the necessary information in order to determine whether during the mentioned event by individuals have committed a criminal offense for which prosecution is undertaken ex officio", said Lukač.
The prosecutor explains that the police collected information from several people at the request of the prosecution.
"And in order to discover the perpetrator of the crime of inciting national, racial and religious hatred from Art. 370 paragraph 2 in connection with paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro, undertakes other actions at the behest of this prosecution. As the case is in the investigation phase, this prosecutor's office, in order to protect the case, cannot provide more information at this time," explained Lukač.
According to the Criminal Code of Montenegro, it is forbidden to publicly approve, deny the existence or minimize the gravity of the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes...
"Vijesti" previously announced that, according to available data, Rastoder was portrayed in the film as a hero and savior of Bosniak life in Bihor, and the public screening in Petnjica was attended by several dozen citizens. According to local media reports, the Mufti of Sandzak was also present Abdurrahman ef. Kujevic.
The initiative for the rehabilitation of Rastoder was submitted by the Bosniaks of Luxembourg, where Huseinović's revisionist work was shown for the first time in January 2022. The Bosniaks of Luxembourg and the diaspora appealed to the people of Bihor to initiate the procedure for the rehabilitation of Rastoder as soon as possible, "in order to correct the great historical injustice against the man responsible for the survival of Bosniak life in that part of Sandžak", but also "against the members of his people".
The media announced that they "asked Alimir Muratović to convey salams (greetings) to all active political entities in Bihor, and with salams and a request or rather an appeal, to start the rehabilitation procedure of Mulla Osman Rastoder as soon as possible in order to correct a great historical injustice"...
After the screening of the film, which is also handled by the prosecution, the Bosniak Party and the Justice and Reconciliation Party did not answer "Vijesti" what they thought about the initiative and the war criminal Rastoder.
The Beran committee of the Socialist People's Party strongly condemned the screening of the film earlier, saying that they condemn any attempt to promote a war criminal, regardless of which side he belonged to.
"Now, when we need to move forward, through the European Union, when more than ever we need to work on multi-ethnic respect and tolerance, we must not allow ourselves to go backwards and promote those who have been declared war criminals".
They also assessed that "individuals and groups are pulling towards the past, towards reopening some painful topics".
"Osman Rastoder, a war criminal, was the leader of the fascist militia during the Second World War and of the Skanderbeg SS unit," the SNP said at the time.
SS unit Skanderbeg, composed mainly of Albanians and members of the Muslim militia, is responsible for numerous crimes, among others, the massacre in the village of Velika in 1944, where on July 28, more than 500 mostly women, children and old people were brutally killed. The unit was commanded by a German officer August Schmidthuber, who was convicted and shot in Belgrade in 1947.
The crime in Velica took place during the so-called Andrijevic operation, that is, the attempt by German forces to prevent the partisans from breaking into Serbia...
According to numerous historians and archival sources, it is unquestionable that the Muslim militia led by Rastoder cooperated with the occupiers - Germans and Italians, in the fight against partisan forces.
Seven years ago, a Montenegrin historian Sherbo Rastoder he was "trying" to understand Osman Rastoder and his actions due to the fact that the Muslim militia was protecting his compatriots from the Chetnik knife.
"For me, crime is something that cannot be justified, but I can understand it and I try to understand it," Rastoder told Radio Petnjica in 2016.
He also said that "the Muslim militia is not a movement or an army, but a group of people who defended their doorstep."
"In a chaos, people organize themselves to defend their country, children, family. Osman Rastoder was at the head of that group".
He then explained that "ideologically, the Communist Party, which was on the rise at the time, had the least foothold among Muslims."
"There are many reasons, but the essential reason is that in 1941, a Muslim from Bihor did not distinguish between Partisans and Chetniks. Osman Rastoder was charged before the Montenegrin war crimes commission. For me, crime is something that cannot be justified, but I can understand it and I try to understand it...".
Rastoder emphasized that Gornji Bihor was preserved during the war, in contrast to Donji Bihor, which was looted in 1943, and the citizens were killed.
"Upper Bihor was preserved thanks to the fact that there was some armed, organized force that defended those people. It was the Muslim militia headed by Osman...".
The screening of the film dedicated to the war criminal is not the first attempt to rehabilitate Osman Rastoder - in Petnjica, a sign with his name was placed on the street in 2015, without the decision of the local authorities.
The then president of the local Assembly Adnan Muhovic he said that this does not represent a provocation because it is about "a very important person" for Bosniaks...
Streets in Bosnia and Herzegovina bear the name of Osman Rastoder, but also of numerous other war criminals - Chetniks and Ustasha.
One of Sarajevo's streets is named after the commander of the Muslim militia, and there are streets all over Bosnia and Herzegovina Draže Mihailović, Jure Francetić, pop Đujić...
Rastoder got a street in Ilidža, and Mihailović got a street in East Sarajevo, but also a square in Bijeljina.
Mihailović was the leader of the Chetnik movement, which is credited with numerous crimes in the Second World War.
At the end of 2021, the BiH Parliament adopted the initiative of Our Party that these names must be changed.
One of the deputies of the SDA also voted for the initiative, and after harsh accusations from the "Bosniak Corps", he excused himself that he did not know what it was about...
Bonus video:
