Dear Partners and Friends of the Srebrenica Memorial Center,
We are writing to inform you of a deeply concerning development affecting the Srebrenica Memorial Center and members of the Bosniak returnee community in Srebrenica.
According to information reported today, 26 individuals who have cooperated professionally with the Srebrenica Memorial Center have been summoned for questioning by the Republika Srpska police. These individuals were engaged transparently and lawfully in the implementation of the Memorial Center’s educational, research, commemorative and outreach activities.
The scale and manner of this action raise serious concerns that legitimate cooperation with the Memorial Center is being treated as grounds for police scrutiny. Irrespective of the stated procedural basis, summoning such a large number of associates inevitably creates an atmosphere of intimidation and sends a disturbing message to survivors, returnees, researchers, educators, young people and others who contribute to the preservation of the truth about the Srebrenica genocide.
This development must also be understood in the broader context in which the Memorial Center operates. Our institution is entrusted with preserving the memory of the victims, documenting the genocide, supporting survivors and educating future generations. We carry out this mandate in an environment where genocide denial, the glorification of convicted war criminals and political pressure remain persistent realities.
The Memorial Center is a state-level institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Attempts to intimidate its associates or discourage members of the local community from participating in its programmes directly undermine its institutional mandate and threaten the space for remembrance, research, education and freedom of expression.
We remain fully committed to transparency, accountability and cooperation with all competent institutions acting within their lawful authority. At the same time, we cannot remain silent when administrative or law-enforcement mechanisms appear to be used in a manner that creates fear among people connected to the Memorial Center and places additional pressure on an already vulnerable returnee community.
We therefore respectfully call upon our diplomatic and international partners to follow these developments closely and to reaffirm their support for the independence, integrity and uninterrupted work of the Srebrenica Memorial Center. International attention and solidarity are particularly important at moments when those committed to remembrance and truth are made to feel unsafe or exposed because of their cooperation with our institution.
Attached to this email, you will also find a photograph prepared as a message of solidarity with the Srebrenica Memorial Center. We would be grateful if you would consider sharing it through your institutional and social media channels as a public expression of support for the Memorial Center, its associates and its essential mission.
Your continued support sends an important message that the preservation of truth, the dignity of survivors and the freedom to commemorate and educate must not be subjected to intimidation.
Thank you for standing with the Srebrenica Memorial Center and with all those who continue to defend truth, memory and justice.
Yours sincerely,
Mirela Osmanović
Asistent za međunarodnu saradnju pri Memorijalnom centru Srebrenica
Liaison for International Cooperation at Srebrenica Memorial Center
mirela.osmanovic@srebrenicamemorial.org
Mob: +387 61 309 978
