Ravna Gora Movement

The appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court on Wednesday convicted three members of the Serb nationalist Ravna Gora Movement of inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance in the Visegrad area in March 2019.

The Bosnian state court on Monday upheld an appeal filed by the prosecution and quashed the verdict that acquitted Ravna Gora Movement members Dusan Sladojevic, Slavko Aleksic and Risto Lecic of ethnic, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance in the Visegrad area in March 2019.

The court ordered a retrial for the three defendants.

Ravna Gora Movement members Dusan Sladojevic, alias Krvce and Cica, Slavko Aleksic, alias Vojvoda, and Risto Lecic pleaded not guilty at the Bosnian state court on Monday to charges of inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred, discord and intolerance at gatherings in the town of Visegrad and the nearby village of Dobrunska Rijeka in March 2019.

But even though inter-ethnic relations remain highly sensitive, members of Chetnik associations from Bosnia and Serbia who participate in these events did not face any consequences for staging their rowdy celebrations and singing nationalist songs that seem to threaten bloodshed until last year.

The Bosnian state prosecution said on Thursday that it has filed an indictment charging Dusan Sladojevic, alias Krvce or Cica, Slavko Aleksic, alias Vojvoda, and Risto Lecic with inciting hatred between Bosnia and Herzegovina's main ethnic groups at a rally in Visegrad.

The Basic Courts in Trebinje and Bijeljina told BIRN that they have turned down requests to ban associations whose names contain the words 'Chetnik Movement' or 'Ravna Gora Movement'.

The plea was "rejected as unfounded", said Jelica Ijacic, the secretary at Trebinje Basic Court.

The controversial Chetnik rally in Visegrad has been cancelled after the Interior Ministry in Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity on Wednesday issued a ban on all public gatherings until March 30 in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Courts in the towns of Doboj and Sokolac have rejected requests to ban 16 associations whose titles contain the words 'Chetnik Movement' or 'Ravna Gora Movement', while three more courts in Bosnia's Serb-majority Republika Srpska entity are still considering requests to ban the associations, BIRN has learned.

The head of the Ravna Gora Movement of Chetniks in Montenegro, Mileta Pavicevic, said that supporters and descendants of the WWII monarchist fighters have filed a request to the Interior Ministry to be officially registered as a non-governmental organisation.