by Snjezana MULIC-BUSATLIJA
What is actually going on? On May 29, magazine Ljiljan carried "exclusive" news that ten days earlier two members of the SDP, Damir Nuhanovic and Goran Kapor, had fought with chairs and ashtrays at a session of the local council in Ilidza, and thereby unofficially opened Pandora's pre-election box. In the article SDP members brawl in Ilidza, Ljiljan among other published the following: "At the most recent session of the local council Kapor literally said: 'I want to tell you that you are still afraid of Serbs, and my task is to bring Serbs back to their ancestral homes, so that all of us can finally get rid of immigrants from Sandzak, Hercegovina and Albanians. I will succeed in that.'" Then, without quoting any sources or using any disclaimers the article claims that Kapor told Nuhanovic the following: "I am here to prevent Balijas [derogatory term for Muslims-Bosniaks] from occupying ancestral Serb soil. I am here to prevent that and if you want me to be explicit, my task is to continue working for Greater Serbia." The article also alleges that after that Nuhanovic cursed Kapor's Serb mother, to which Kapor reacted by throwing an ashtray at Nuhanovic after which they started a brawl in which chairs were also used.
Of course, immediately after the publication of that issue of Ljiljan, without checking the truthfulness of the claims from the article, its readers immediately jumped to action. Goran Kapor was the direct target of their ire and his party became an implicit target as well. "They threatened me in a bus, on the street, they called me on the phone; copies of Ljiljan's article were posted as flyers all over Sokolovic-Kolonija, Stup and Ilidza; they threatened my wife...", says Kapor. However, not even the low circulation of Ljiljan could help prevent the spreading of the hunt on Kapor and the SDP. And, what is even worse, the SDP did almost nothing to stop the avalanche of insults and threats. Actually, apart from a short letter sent by the municipal board of the SDP for Ilidza to Ljiljan, but only in connection with the accusations that the mayor of Ilidza, Husein Mahmutovic, was elected also thanks to one vote from a SDP councilor and a brief remark that no one in the SDP is fighting for Greater Serbia, the SDP said nothing else to the wider public. The party shot itself in the foot.
How many of the present believers understood this hutba as a fetwah [a pronouncement by a religious figure in Islam with the power of law; for example, an imam can sentence a person to death by issuing a fetwah]? Effendi Halilovic fired his arrow first at Kapor. Serious claims made in Ljiljan were followed with even more serious claims. It is clear that after such a lecture it is difficult to keep the incident under control, but when such things are concerned silence is the least appropriate response. However, the SDP begs to differ. Svetozar Pudaric, the SDP secretary for Bosnia-Hercegovina said the following for Dani: "It is not up to us to take a stand with respect to that hutba. We respond to attacks by realizing projects in those municipalities where the SDP is in power." The president of the Municipal SDP board for Ilidza, Damir Sabovic, on the other hand said: "I visited some imams in Ilidza and they promised not to discuss this case in their hutbas. But, now that you've given me an idea, we'll send our reaction to the Islamic Community in connection with that hutba."
Of course, Goran Kapor took fright from the hutba in the shape of a fetwah. He says: "This hutba is a call on lynch; that muderris called on the believers to bring him my head. I had to move my family away from the house in which I live." We managed to contact effendi Halilovic by phone and asked him whether he had bothered to check Ljiljan's claims before mentioning them in his hutba and what would happen if someone understands his hutba as a fetwah. "I have an argument in Ljiljan and my attitude with respect to that was expressed in my hutba,"[sic] curtly responded Muderris adding that he did not want to give statements to an anti-Islamic magazine. As we found out, no one from the Islamic Community reads imams' hutbas before they are delivered. In that way the Islamic Community demonstrates that it respects the freedom of speech of its imams. Kapor and other kapors, cannot hope for anything good after being touched by such an imam's pronouncement. Because of that, Goran Kapor has become an outlaw and is on his own tilting at windmills. He discusses the hutba and Ljiljan's article in public even though the municipal SDP board for Ilidza has decided that only their president Damir Sabovic can give statements about that incident. "Kapor is speaking out in order to somehow protect himself," admits Damir Sabovic. Kapor's words are his only defense. True, Kapor nurtures a faint hope that nothing bad will happen to him at least on the territory of the Ilidza Municipality: "I hope that Mahmutovic will protect me, since now he would be in trouble if a councilor were murdered in his multiethnic Ilidza." Honestly, mayor Mahmutovic seems to be the only one in this case to take Muderris' words at least somewhat seriously. After receiving a call from Kapor, and hearing about the hutba, Mahmutovic suggested to Kapor to contact the Police. Unlike Mahmutovic, Kapor's "boss" Sabovic believes the whole problem is very simple: "I claim that nothing will happen to him. Even SDP members attend mosques."
Kapor filed a suit against Ljiljan, its editor-in-chief and the journalist who wrote the article at the second Court in Sarajevo and is demanding DM 60,000 in damages. After the hutba, he decided to increase the requested damages: "Now I will demand more, since my life is hopefully worth more than a two-room apartment. At least my family will get something after my death."
"They installed their private Serb. Everything was done and planned to make sure that I, as a reintegrated Serb, do not become a mayor," says Kapor and explains that exactly that is the essence of the harangue against him. "Serbs in Ilidza have already been cheated three times. We were supposed to participate in these authorities beginning with 1996. They have succeeded in pushing us out of power for three years and now, when my turn has finally arrived, they have come up with this thing in Ljiljan. I do not know what these authorities want. First, they were catching us reintegrated Serbs on the street and walking us around as pets to demonstrate to the foreigners that this is a multicultural community, and now they do not want us any more. My qualifications are the best, since I fought against the departure of every Serb and for their return, and have a graduate degree. Mocevic was a member of the 102 motorized brigade of the Army of Bosnia-Hercegovina and he is a private SDA Serb. Mocevic proposed himself and jumped in place of Nebojsa Tosic who was frightened by the colleagues from the SDP that he would loose his job in the city hall if he accepted the mayoral office, so that he pulled out of the race. I do not have a problem with Mocevic, but essentially we are supposed to work here on the reconciliation of nations. How are they going to reconcile with Mocevic when he was with them? They are supposed to reconcile with me and other Serbs who were during the war on the other side. Anyway you look at it, it is impossible to build a multiethnic Bosnia-Hercegovina in Ilidza with 2 percent of reintegrated Serbs, since unfortunately, the remaining 98 percent are still on the other side. And how they are supposed to return if even I, who was in 1992 a traitor [for Serbs], and a Chetnik [Serb nationalist] for this lot, do not have a place in the town? I am convinced that both the SDA and HDZ and even some individuals from the SDP would have felt better if a Serb from the Serb Democratic Party [a nationalist Serb political party] was proposed for the mayoral office. All of them would vote for such a candidate. Besides, Mocevic has neither education nor political experience. He hasn't spoken once at the council rostrum during the last four years, and is otherwise an ordinary blue-collar worker. SDA and HDZ councilors voted for him. I would have been ashamed if they voted for me. Unfortunately, some members of the Ilidza SDP as well as the SDA and HDZ are not prepared for a true reconciliation in Ilidza."
There is no doubt that as far as the Ilidza SDP is concerned, there is no place for kidding any more. Damir Sabovic admits that they in the party got "a bit confused": "We were somewhat euphoric. We got too excited with winning 37 percent of vote in the municipality and started neglecting events around us."
If only two months since the municipal elections were enough for the Ilidza SDP to get confused so much, it is questionable whether four months remaining until the next elections will give them enough time to get back to their own senses.
Kapor: "Nothing happened. There was no fight, no one cursed anyone's Serb mother. They want to discredit the SDP and say that Nuhanovic, otherwise a deputy municipal director for culture and education, is uncivilized."
Nuhanovic: "I have no comment. Ask Damir Sabovic."
Sabovic: "What are you talking about? There was no clash. There was an incident between members of this party who have the right to their own opinions. No one hit anyone, there was some jostling. Kapor likes to debate loudly and he once said that Nuhanovic had pushed him out of three municipal boards and that he was working for the SDA, to which Nuhanovic responded by 'if I work for the SDA, how come I am Mahmutovic's deputy mayor but have to wait every time for three hours to be received and Kapor is received at any time?' Kapor never said that he was fighting for Greater Serbia; he did mention Serbs, but he mentions Serbs as often as Bosniak representatives mention Bosniaks."
Pudaric: "The leadership of the party is aware that an incident has taken place, but the people from the municipal leadership have confirmed to us that Kapor did not say anything of the stuff mentioned in Ljiljan's article."
Sessions of the Municipal Council are not recorded and consequently it is impossible to establish what Kapor did or did not say. Ljiljan's editor-in-chief Sejo Omeragic claims that his journalist had confirmation from three sources, from three members of the SDP in Ilidza, but that they wanted to remain anonymous.
However, based on these statements, as well as those given off record, it is obvious that a clash between Kapor and Nuhanovic did take place, but that Kapor did not say anything even remotely insensitive as alleged by Ljiljan. What would the SDP do if Ljiljan's claims were true? Damir Sabovic says: "Our statute does not envisage sanctions against 'disobedient' members. In other words, a member can only loose its membership if he or she stops being active in the party or dies. Besides, we are not a folk dancing company to have the need to expel our members. By joining this party all of us have stated that we support its goals and program."