BOSNIA: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA LASHES OUT AT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 001265

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/10/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL BA
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA LASHES OUT AT
INTERNATIONALS, OTHERS

Classified By: DCM Jonathan Moore for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
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1. (SBU) The Republika Srpska (RS) Government adopted a
report on November 9 which alleged that Principal Deputy High
Representative (PDHR) Gregorian and eight other officials,
journalists and political analysts have been collaborating to
harm the interests of the RS. Among the other officials
mentioned in the reort are Chief State Prosecutor Milorad
Barasin, ormer head of the Criminal Investigation Division
at the State Investigation and Protection Agency (IPA)
Dragan Lukac as well as some local journalits and political
analysts who have been critical of RS Prime Minister Dodik.
The report builds on materials that the RS government
submitted to the State Prosecutor last year seeking criminal
charges against the people mentioned in the report. We have
been told that the criminal report had been dismissed by the
State Prosecutor's office for lack of evidence to
substantiate the charges. End Summary.

TI and the Prosecutors
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2. (C) The report adopted by the RS Government and put on
their website is a rambling collection of charges, mostly
citing quotations pulled from newspaper articles or public
websites. The report builds on materials that the RS
government submitted to the State Prosecutor last year. We
have been told by officials at the State Prosecutor's Office
that the criminal report had been dismissed for lack of
evidence. The thrust of the report is that PDHR Raffi
Gregorian has close connections with the various people
mentioned in the report, and that together they have been
engaged in a campaign to defame the RS Government and RS
Prime Minister Milorad Dodik. Although former Bosnia
Transparency International (TI) Director Boris Divjak is not
officially named as one of the conspirators, much of the
report is comprised of quotations of his in the newspapers
and in the TI website which allegedly furnish evidence that
TI was involved in a defamation campaign orchestrated by
Gregorian.


3. (SBU) Many pages of the report are devoted to quoting
charges made by TI about malfeasance by the RS government in
privatizing an oil refinery in Bosanski Brod and other
energy-related infrastructure. The report says that charges
made by TI that the RS was working with corrupt partners are
unfounded, and asks why TI appeared to be working so closely
with State prosecutors. The RS report argues that TI
Director Divjak said publicly in 2007 that criminal charges
were being prepared against the RS Government and Dodik, and
notes that this was not public information at the time. The
report asks how Divjak could have known this, and asks
suggestively whether he learned it from Prosecutors or from
"someone higher," by which the report clearly appears to be
referring to PDHR Gregorian.


4. (SBU) The report also alleges direct connections between
PDHR Gregorian and the Prosecutor's office. For example, it
mentions that Gregorian received a letter from Dragomir
Babic, the head of the NGO "Narodni Front" about efforts by
the RS government to undermine TI. Then it notes that
Gregorian met with Chief State Prosecutor Barasin at OHR
about this issue and mentioned this in a press released
issued by OHR after the meeting. This is cited by the report
as alleged evidence that Gregorian is attempting to influence
the Prosecutors Office.

Alleged Attempts to Manipulate the Media
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5. (SBU) The report also alleges that Gregorian and OHR have
tried to manipulate the media. It cites an interview with
Bakir Hadziomerovic, editor of the television program "60
Minutes," that reportedly appeared in the newspaper Slobodna
Bosna. According to the RS report, Hadziomerovic claimed in
this interview that Gregorian and the Anti-corruption unit at
OHR had fed him information about the involvement of various
Bosniaks in terrorist activities, including involvement in
the attack on the World Trade Center. Hadziomerovic then
used some of this information in a program appearing in his
"60 Minutes" program. According to the RS report,
Hadziomerovic expressed frustration in his Slobodna Bosna
interview that OHR later denied the veracity of the
information that had been used in the television program.

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6. (SBU) The RS report also cites an editorial appearing in
the Banja Luka newspaper "Nezavisne Novine" alleging that
Gregorian tried to put pressure on the newspaper. The
editorial notes that Gregorian met with journalists and
analysts in Banja Luka who claimed that they had been
"blacklisted," and could not have their material published in
such RS media outlets as Nezavisne Novine. The newspaper
then named some of the people who met with Gregorian and
explained why their work was not published in the newspaper.
One, they said, refused to work for the fees the newspaper
would offer. Another, they said, was in the employ of a
political party. Nezavisne Novine claimed that this meeting
with the "blacklisted" journalists and analysts was an
attempt by Gregorian to pressure the newspaper into
publishing criticism of RS PM Dodik.

Comment
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7. (C) This report is the continuation of efforts by RS PM
Dodik and the RS government to discredit OHR, carefully timed
to take place in the run-up to the next meeting of the Peace
Implementation Council on November 18-19. Much of the RS
report simply represents quotes from publicly available
sources combined with claims that these quotes prove a
"conspiracy." Activities mentioned in the report such as a
meeting of PDHR Gregorian with dissident journalists hardly
qualify as conspiratorial activity. Most likely the RS
Government decided to adopt the report and publicize it in
order to piggyback on recent criticisms of Gregorian made by
Islamic Community leaders such as Reis Ceric and Dnevni Avaz
owner Fahrudin Radoncic--a regular Dodik interlocutor--who
claimed that Gregorian and his staff were targeting Muslim
leaders for corruption investigations. Presumably, Dodik and
other RS officials believed this was an opportune time to
advance their own agenda of closing OHR and eliminating the
threat of investigation posed by a strong State Prosecutor's
office assisted by international staff.
ENGLISH