5. Urgent request to the entity government of Republika Srpska to suspend the sale of the Ljubija mine

23 January 2019

H.E. Mr. António Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Executive Office of the Secretary-General
S-3800, United Nations Secretariat Bldg
New York, NY 10017
 sg@un.org  

H.E.Antonio Tajani
The President of the European Parliament
Bât. Altiero Spinelli
60 rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60
B-1047 - Bruxelles/Brussels
Belgium
Fax +32 2 284 69 74

H. E. Donald Tusk
The President of the European Council
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 
B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel
Belgique/België
Fax: +32 22816934  

Re: Urgent request to the entity government of Republika Srpska to suspend the sale of the Ljubija mine

Your Excellency,

The war crimes in the city of Prijedor, which were continuously conducted from 1992 to1995, have been marked as a genocide. This imposes a moral obligation on us as a scientific research institution to once again warn that the world is not fully prepared to learn from examples of the war crimes in the city of Prijedor, and that those on whose behalf these crimes were committed do not show the desire to hear nor see the extent of the crimes and the suffering bestowed upon the victims. The entity of Republika Srpska, the Republic of Serbia, and the majority of the Serbian people, who are responsible for such atrocities, still continue to deny it ever happened. By exalting the war criminals and supporting them, they are clearly not accepting the responsibility for the crimes committed.

In the city of Prijedor, there is still a massive violation of human rights towards displaced persons, returnees, survivors and the witnesses of crime. The haughty municipal authorities never publicly acknowledged the acts of the former criminal administration nor did they repent for the sufferings said administration caused upon a thousands of Bosniaks and Croats, and have never provided a reconciliation and repentance. The Bosniaks and Croats of this town are to this day being humiliated and are considered as a second class citizens. The public organizations that are representing victims are publicly humiliated and targeted thus causing the fear among families of the killed and missing persons. At the same time, the city of Prijedor is a sanctuary to the war criminals and has been employing them in the local government. The fascist groups, the once that the citizens of the city of Prijedor and all of us fought against in the WW II are allowed to congregate however the victims of crimes committed by these groups are forbidden to do the same. Your requests which clearly stated that the discrimination on a national and religious basis must be stoped, that the truth about the crimes committed must be recognized, that the war criminals must be condemned and that the truth must be justified, as well as that the victims of the war in the city of Prijedor must be honored are clearly being ignored.

The local government of the entity of Republika Srpska at the end of January of this year, through the entity investment and development bank, wants to complete the sale of the majority stake of the iron ore mine, in the town of Ljubija, were some of the largest mass graves in BiH and Europe were discovered. At the beginning of this year, the concentration campers' association known as "Prijedor 92" sent a request to the City of Prijedor Assembly to place memorial panels at the sites of the mass graves of Redak I, Redak II, Jakarin Kosa and Tomasica, which are a part of the sale, as a lasting warning that such crimes should never be repeated but to this date they have never received an answer.

We would like to inform you of the continuous obstructions in setting up memorials in the Omarska mine after its privatization. This iron ore mine, from May 26 to August 15 of 1992, was the most notorious concentration camp in the world and has never been adequately marked as a place of terrible torture and killing of the innocent civilians. We would like to draw your attention especially to the Tomasica mine, which was the largest mass grave found on the European soil after the Second World War, and let you know that it is a part of the complex of the iron ore mines which will be on said sale.

In the city of Prijedor 3,172 Bosniaks and Croats were killed, of which 102 children and 256 women. 760 non-Serb civilians are still uncounted for and/or are presumed killed. The skeletal remains of these victims could be at the site of the Ljubija town mine. While we pay tribute to the victims and give our deepest respect to their families, we also see the other face of Europe and the world that has failed or did not want to protect these victims from the war criminals. Despite all the obstacles, reconciliation is still the fundamental goal of our scientific research institution. However, to reach the reconciliation we must strive for the truth and justice. By sending an urgent request to stop the sale of the Iron ore mine Ljubija and by requesting that the memorial panels are installed, you can make a great contribution towards the justice for the victims of the city of Prijedor.

The legal and moral basis of our demand points that the city of Prijedor is the first municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovinia, with the largest number of the war crimes, the largest number of the missing persons, the greater number of the mass graves, the largest number of the notorious concentration camps and the largest number of the court cases in the international and national courts. US professor, Gregory Stanton has formulated ten stages of genocide and the tenth phase is denying that it happened. With all the information provided above and by the actions of the City of Prijedor Assembly we can conclude and add a new phase to the denial and that is triumphalism, which clearly indicates the celebration of the crime. Your urgent request to the entity government of Republika Srpska to suspend the sale of the Ljubija mine is a great contribution to the truth and the fight against the triumphalism of crimes and those who committed such atrocities.

Sincerely,

Professor Dr. Emir Ramic
Chairman
Institute for the research of genocide Canada