ASSOCIATION OF MOSTAR DETAINEE ON HVO MUSEUM IN HELIODROM: HELEZ HAD AN OBLIGATION TO STOP CONSTRUCTION

MOSTAR, MAY 8 (ONASA) – After the congratulation they received from the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the eve of Ramadan on the start of their activities on the construction of the HVO Museum at the Heliodrom Camp, the Mostar camp inmates association decided to congratulate them on tomorrow’s Victory Day over fascism, which was not defeated, the Association announced.
– After several attempts, we received from the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina what we did not ask for, we believe that we are obliged to inform the public about the sequence of events and the information that the construction of the HVO Museum continued in the area where more than 10,000 inhabitants of the city were detained and tortured. Mostar, Herzegovina and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Despite the requests in accordance with the Law on Public Access to Information and Urgent Affairs that were addressed to the Ministry and the Minister, we did not receive the Decision on the establishment of the museum made by Minister Marina Pendeš nor the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation signed by Minister Sifet Podžić, we received a response that is attached. , as well as two letters addressed to them, one of which was hidden and we received no response. The current minister knows best why the request was not delivered to us by legal means – the Association announced and added:
– Attempts to try to explain to us and the public, through incoherent explanations, the chronology of events during the construction of the Museum and the determination of the location is just an attempt to throw lies in the eyes of the victims of JCE’s criminal policy.
What, as they point out, painfully disappointed them was the superficial acceptance of the same narrative by the current minister (Zukan Helez) who unquestioningly accepted the decisions made by his predecessors without the slightest feeling as to whether this act would hurt anyone, including his close relatives who perished in the camps the so-called HHZB.
– He had the obligation to, in accordance with the State Law on the Denial of War Crimes and Genocide and the Rulebook on Museums of the Regiments of the Armed Forces of BiH, review the validity of the decisions made and stop the construction of any museum at the place where war crimes were committed and confirmed by the court. The continuation of the construction of the HVO war museum within its former concentration camp Heliodrom is the most brutal way of insulting the feelings and dignity of the victim, amining the policy of hiding and denying the crimes committed by the decided policy of the JCE and imposing a narrative of collective oblivion. The attempt to justify the implementation of the decisions of the predecessor does not in any way amnesty the current holder of the ministerial position – the Association concludes.
They add that for the victims of the ruling JCE’s policy, the only right thing to do is to immediately pass the Decision on ending the financing of the museum in the area of the Heliodrom camp and allocate it to another location that will not offend anyone.
– We resolutely reject the possibility that our demands can be reduced to some personal or political terrain because they are solely motivated by the interest to protect the dignity of every human being, regardless of name, national or religious affiliation. It is up to all of us, without distinction, to one day pay accounts before the Creator – they concluded in a statement from the Mostar camp inmates’ association.