Bijeljina Recalls Deputy Speaker Over Mladic Death Post

The Bijeljina city assembly voted today, September 10, to recall Deputy Speaker Samir Bacevac, making it the first local government in Republika Srpska to formally remove an official over his stance on Ratko Mladic. For Serbian readers, this is not just a local story from a neighboring country: Republika Srpska shares Serbia’s fraught emotions and divisions over the convicted war criminal, and Srpske novine reported earlier in September on the arrest of Milivoje Brkovic in Podgorica over his public support for the same figure. This time the roles are reversed: a man was removed from office for insulting Mladic, not for defending him.

The recall initiative was filed by 28 Bijeljina assembly members back on September 1, and today’s session formally confirmed it. Sources differ on the details. Srpskainfo reports that all 30 assembly members voted unanimously, with one ballot left unused, while Klix writes only that every assembly member present at the session voted for the recall, without giving an exact number. Both outlets agree the decision passed without a single dissenting vote.

The trigger was a social media post in which Bacevac, reacting to news of Ratko Mladic’s death, used the word “krepao,” a term normally reserved for animals and roughly translated as “croaked.” He soon edited the post and apologized to the public, then repeated the same apology in person at the assembly session, standing before the very members who, minutes later, voted to recall him. The explanation attached to the recall decision describes the deputy speaker’s conduct as “immoral and unbecoming.”

At the session, Bacevac also explained how the controversial word ended up in his post. According to him, it was an unintentional error that occurred while he was using artificial intelligence to draft the post, not his own choice of wording. The explanation did not change the outcome of the vote.

The SNSD and SDS assembly caucuses, which initiated the recall, went further than the removal itself. They are demanding that Bacevac give up his assembly mandate altogether and withdraw completely from political life. Since he also works as a teacher of Islamic religious education, the same two parties are calling on the Republika Srpska Ministry of Education and the Association of School Principals to respond, and because they view the post as hate speech, they are also demanding that the prosecutor’s office weigh in.

Assembly member Vladimir Saric, identified as the son of General Goran Saric, also took part in the debate. He said his father had been a trained and respected officer who fell gravely ill because of persecution by Bosniaks, their lobbies, and courts in Sarajevo, but that he never once heard his father say an ugly word about an officer of any army. SNSD assembly member Aleksandar Ostojic, for his part, pointed out that Bacevac wears the so-called Srebrenica flower on his lapel, and that the symbol has always been respected in the city assembly, while Bacevac had at the same time insulted a deceased member of the Serb people.

In its report, Klix adds broader context: Bacevac lost his position over a post he himself edited and apologized for, while numerous officials who openly glorified Mladic, including some who attended his funeral in Belgrade, still hold formal positions in Republika Srpska. Judging by the tone of the assembly debate, that discrepancy in treatment appears to be exactly what sharpened the vote.

Several questions beyond the recall itself remain open. Whether the Republika Srpska prosecutor’s office will open a hate speech case, whether the Ministry of Education will act on Bacevac’s status as a religious education teacher, and whether he will indeed give up his assembly mandate, as SNSD and SDS are demanding, are decisions still to come in the days and weeks ahead.