SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA , April 22 (Hina) - Former Bosnian Presidency chairman Alija Izetbegovic during the 1990s war personally granted the issuance of passports to persons who were not Bosnian citizens, the Nezavisne Novine daily said
on Monday.
SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA , April 22 (Hina) - Former Bosnian Presidency
chairman Alija Izetbegovic during the 1990s war personally granted
the issuance of passports to persons who were not Bosnian citizens,
the Nezavisne Novine daily said on Monday. #L#
This Bosnian Serb newspaper published the copy of a March 1993
document whereby Izetbegovic instructs the Bosnian Embassy in
Vienna to issue Bosnian passports to persons of Bosniak (Muslim)
nationality from the Yugoslav region of Sandzak.
The Bosnian charge d'affaires in Vienna at the time, Mahir
Hadziahmetovic, asked for instructions from Sarajevo about what to
do with people from Sandzak who had happened to be abroad with ex-
Yugoslav passports on which they could no longer get visas.
The situation was very problematic for people who refused to serve
in the Yugoslav army or whose families had members in the Army of
Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Party of Democratic Action.
An agreement was reached with the president of the Bosniaks of
Sandzak association, Sulejman Ugljanin, on issuing Bosnian
passports to those people under special supervision.
Responding to a query from Hadziahmetovic, a hand-written note with
Izetbegovic's signature said that passports could be issued under
said conditions but did not explain how this complied with the law.
Nezavisne Novine concludes this document proves the issuance of
Bosnian passports was controlled by the war-time Sarajevo
authorities, including top officials.
The daily also claims that around 12,000 passports were issued to
volunteers from Islamic countries, including around 3,000 who were
later linked to terrorism, when Izetbegovic chaired the state
Presidency.
(hina) ha