War veterans, former members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH) and the Croat Defence Council (HVO) temporarily blocked two highways at Sicki Brod near Tuzla and a road near the Bijaca border crossing with Croatia, demanding the adoption of the harmonised Law on the Rights of Veterans.

One of the veterans, Hamza Krkalic, said that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (FBiH) highways will be blocked from 1 p.m.

“We begged the Deputy Speaker of the FBiH House of Peoples (Jasenko Tufekcic) to schedule the session for tomorrow. We don’t want any more promises. We want the problem solved. The Federation is blocked from today. This will be a warning to them not to play with us,” Krkalic said.

Head of the “Forgotten Veterans” Association, Drago Grbavac, said that the entire FBiH is hostage to one man, Jasenko Tufekcic. He stressed that the FBiH is not Tufekcic’s private property, but a country of all its citizens.

“It is sad that the state is hostage to one man. Jasenko Tufekcic is the reason why we’re here. This is not his private property, this is our country,” Grbavac pointed out and confirmed that the veterans blocked the Bijaca border-crossing.

He added that all veterans’ decisions were made collectively and that the FBiH Government does not like the fact that the RBiH Army and the HVO veterans are united.

Between 30 and 40 veterans have blocked the Tuzla-Orasje expressway near Srebrenik and a road near the Bijaca border crossing at around 1 p.m., said Tuzla Canton Interior Ministry spokesperson Izudin Saric, who also said that veterans left the Tuzla-Orasje expressway at around 2 p.m.

During the blockade at the Bijaca border crossing, the West Herzegovina Police Department recorded an incident where veterans were confronted by other citizens. One person was injured and one other person was apprehended by the police.

At around 2:10 p.m. the veterans blocked the highways at Sicki Brod, blocking the Tuzla-Orasje and Tuzla-Sarajevo highways. This blockade ended after some 30 minutes, with traffic continuing to flow freely.

The FBiH entity House of Peoples adopted on July 26, the Draft Law on the Rights of Veterans and Members of their Families in the form adopted by the FBiH Government.

The House of Peoples did not adopt the amendments which were earlier adopted by the House of Representatives, which the FBiH Government also rejected. This means that the two houses will have to align the adopted versions of the Law at one of the following sessions.

The said law fulfilled all the demands earlier stated by the veterans, which are the publication of the single veterans’ registry, the abolition of the financing of veterans’ associations, and the right to have a veterans’ disability allowance.

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