Following increasingly opened threats, expressed through threatening the lives and personal security, pressures and extortions of the members and contributors of the IFIMES as well as lawsuits against the International Institute IFIMES, we are hereby, through the press release appealing to the Bosnian-Herzegovinian and global public:
The International Institute IFIMES from Ljubljana, Slovenia, has been for a longer period of time following and analyzing the situation in the regions of the Balkans and the Middle East. In its analyses it has been pointing to different appearance forms of organized crime, corruption, war crimes, violation of human rights, minority position and difficult economic situation and of an extremely destructive influence of particular political parties on the development of democratic processes, especially of the nationalist parties in BiH (SDS – The Serbian Democratic Party, SDA – The Party of Democratic Action and HDZ – The Croatian Democratic Union).
Dissatisfaction with the opinions of the International Institute IFIMES, which are brought up through our analyses and studies, has been manifested through different forms of physical threats and pressures on the prominent members of the Institute, which has culminated in a recent lawsuit against the International Institute IFIMES, which was brought up by the present vice-president of SDS, Mladen Bosic from Brcko.
The International Institute IFIMES is condemning all attempts of preventing the freedom of speech and is expressing an open concern for the personal safety of the members of the institute, their families, contributors and the leadership of the IFIMES.
The International Institute IFIMES has with its up-to-date activities tried to, and will try in the future as well, to influence the public opinion with a critical approach towards the social reality with a goal of confronting the negative social phenomena and their eradication, especially in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian society. Obviously, this approach of IFIMES disturbed some of the politicians and political circles in BiH, in addition to the mentioned Bosic, who in their policies never paid much attention to the position of the public. They have mainly tried with different forms of pressure, including physical threats and by abusing the institutions of power in which they have been represented for years, to prevent the public from knowing the real condition of the events and the leading public figures of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Simultaneously, IFIMES spoke openly of the biggest 'stoppers' of such processes, who in BiH are primarily located within the nationalist parties and who do not wish the comprehend the necessity and the advantages of the Euro-Atlantic integration processes that should, as soon as possible, bring BiH to a membership in EU and NATO.
The newest threats against the International Institute IFIMES, which include the present lawsuit, are understood as an attempt to attack the IFIMES, with which further activities of IFIMES are to be prevented, especially in BiH. The International Institute IFIMES has touched and will be touching in its analyses the social processes and the public personalities that participate in these processes and will continue to warn of their damaging activities and the negative influence of their politics on the citizens of BIH and the development of democracy in the society of BiH.
Thus the International Institute IFIMES pointed to the most-brutal anti-Dayton demonstrations on BiH, which were organized in the summer of 1997 in Brcko, whose goal was to oppose the arbitrary decision concerning Brcko about which there is a written explanation on the final International arbitrary decision for the Brcko District BiH, in which the SDS was found as the main perpetrator of the demonstrations, with which the Republika Srpska lost the possibility to preserve the Brcko District as an integral part of the Republika Srpska. At that time the leader of SDS in Brcko was the mentioned Mladen Bosic.
At the International Institute IFIMES we would not be particularly concerned about the different forms of threats and pressures into which we include also the lawsuits, but due to the recent assassination attempt on the member of the International Institute IFIMES and of the Iraqi government Mithala Al-Alusi on the 8th of February 2005 in Baghdad in which both of his sons were killed and which occurred after his historical official visit to Israel in September 2004 that was organized by the International Institute IFIMES, our concern is becoming far greater.
Despite the physical attacks, threats, lawsuits and extortions the International Institute IFIMES will not cease to be an objective and a critical analyst of the present developments and situation in the region. We shall continues to inform in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian and the international public, including the most influential states in the world, in due time.
Ljubljana, the 4th of September 2005
