Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 10/12/2021
The news that the City of Doboj ceded the land to the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs for the purpose of building a facility to accommodate the Gendarmerie Unit of the Doboj Police Administration was used by some websites with headlines claiming that “Dodik is grouping armed forces in Doboj”.
On December 8, 2021, the website Slobodna Bosna published an article entitled:
DODIK IS GROUPING ARMED FORCE IN DOBOJ: Jerinic cedes land to RS MUP
The article reports that the City of Doboj ceded the land to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska to build a facility for the accommodation of the Doboj Gendarmerie Unit.
The Mayor of Doboj, Boris Jerinic, and the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Srpska, Dragan Lukac, today signed an agreement on the transfer of ownership of land owned by the city to the RS Ministry of Internal Affairs for the construction of the Doboj Gendarmerie Unit, Srna reports.
Lukac told reporters in Doboj that this is a great help for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Srpska, and stated that the development of the conceptual solution for the future facility of the Gendarmerie Unit would follow, and then obtaining the necessary building permits.
He pointed out the good relations with the City Administration in Doboj on improving the work of the police, to improve the safety of citizens in this and local communities under the jurisdiction of the Doboj Administration.
“The police administration in Doboj is one of the largest after Banja Luka, so these investments mean a lot to us in improving the work of the police”, Lukac said.
Thus, it is clear from the article that this is not about any “grouping of armed forces”, as stated in the title. This faulty construction leads to the conclusion that it is a matter of accumulating, i.e., increasing the number of armed forces in Doboj’s area.
It is, in fact, about the construction of a facility to accommodate a unit that already exists within the Doboj Police Department. Therefore, it is not about “grouping”, but about building space for the already existing unit within the MUP.
Slobodna Bosna’s article was shared, featuring the same title, by websites Bolja Bosna (December 8, 2021) and Vijesti (.uk) (December 9, 2021).
The headline mentioning the “grouping of armed forces” in Doboj is particularly tendentious and manipulative when viewed in the context of current political events and the announcement by BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik of the formation of the Republic of Srpska Army.
We remind you that on September 23, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided that the Law on Forests, adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska (NARS), is not following the Constitution of BiH, and that forests are property of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not entities.
Following this decision, Dodik announced a special session of the NARS and decisions on withdrawing consent to the reform of the Armed Forces, the establishment of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) and the Intelligence and Security Agency (OBA), and on non-implementation of about 140 laws imposed by high representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A session to discuss the topic is scheduled for Friday, December 10.
The media often use complex political relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina to gain as much readership as possible through manipulative and often war-inciting headlines. You can read more about such examples in our previous analyzes (link, link, link).
Accordingly, all titles of the analyzed articles receive clickbait and disinformation ratings.
Note
December 13, 2021: The website Bolja Bosna has changed the article, containing accurate information, so it received a “corrected” rating.
December 14, 2021: In the meantime, Slobodna Bosna’s article has been changed as well. It contains accurate information, so it received a “corrected” rating.
