RS’s gendarmerie members attempted to enter Rajlovac’s military barracks

Without any announcement nor notification to relevant authorities in Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH), members of the Republika Srpska’s (RS) gendarmerie attempted to enter the Rajlovac military base of the BiH Armed Forces.

“They came with two police vehicles, one of which belonged to the gendarmerie. At around 3:00PM, they appeared at the Rajlovac camp gate, searching for the soldier A.C., who was allegedly suspected of having committed a robbery”, said one of our sources.

Members of the Republika Srpska gendarmerie entered the military base of the Armed Forces in Rajlovac, near Sarajevo, on Tuesday afternoon, with the pretext that they should arrest a soldier, Istraga.ba has learned from several sources in the Ministry of Defense of BiH and within the Armed Forces.

According to the information from the investigation, members of the gendarmerie parked their vehicles at the entrance of the barracks and asked for a permission to enter the base and to arrest the suspected soldier.

“But the wrong surname was written in their account. They stayed for a while in the barracks”, explains our source. According to the source, the RS Ministry of Interior has not notified the BiH Armed Forces for this action at all. Members of the Gendarmerie appeared only at the entrance of the barracks located in the territory of BiH Federation.  Prior to any operation in the territory of the Federation, members of the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior should notify their FBiH colleagues.

“We have not received any notification,” we were told by the Federal Police Administration, directing us to the Interior Ministry of the Sarajevo Canton, given the base is located in this canton.

On Wednesday, we’ve tried to get in touch with Sarajevo Police Commissioner Nusret Selimovic, which did not reply, thus we couldn’t question them on whether anyone had allowed members of the Republika Srpska MIA to carry out the operation at the Sarajevo military facility and if yes, who.

Armed Forces camps have become a relevant topic in the media in recent weeks. let recall that the president of the SNSD, who is also a member of the Presidency of BiH, Milorad Dodik, announced the formation of the Army of Republika Srpska, stating that the RS authorities will take over the barracks located in the territory of that entity. Following the views of its President Dodik, the SNSD Main Board adopted several strategic documents which also mention the BiH Armed Forces and the possible activities that would follow after RS ​​forms its army and judiciary.

“This process includes the decision to annul the laws on the Court, the Prosecution and all other acts decided by the High Representative and approved by the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. After that, the work of the institutions created by those laws in the territory of RS will be stopped with a certain deadline, after which they must leave and if not, the intervention from the competent institutions of Republika Srpska follows”, it is said in the SNSD document.

Avdo Avdic, The Geopost contributor from Bosnia and Herzegovina