Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 21/01/2022
Several websites in Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed that the Doboj Police Administration confiscated 30 flags of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some also stated that the Doboj Police Department characterized these flags as “war flags of the Army of BiH”. None of this, however, is true.
On January 9, 2022, the News Agency of the Republic of Srpska (Srna) published an article on its website. The article dealt with the seizure of flags in Doboj, and it featured the following title:
FLAGS WITH LILIES SEIZED, PERSONS REGISTERED FOR SECURITY PURPOSES
The flags described in the title of this article as “flags with lilies” are referred to in the text as the “war flags of the so-called Army of BiH”.
Doboj police sanctioned a person from Zenica, E.B., in whose vehicle the police found and confiscated 30 war flags of the so-called Army of BiH. According to the police, this person and his companion are interesting to the police for security reasons.
The Doboj Police Department told Srna that the person E.B. was sanctioned for disrupting public order and peace, that the person E.H. from Zenica was in the vehicle with him, and that both are interesting to the police for security purposes.
Vehicle BMW, where the flags with lilies were found, was checked in the parking lot of a gas station in Doboj.
The article, therefore, claims that “the police state” that both persons are interesting to the police in terms of security. Although this is not explicitly stated, this formulation leads to the conclusion that “the police state they confiscated 30 war flags of the so-called Army of BiH”, which is also declared in the same sentence.
We also found that the same claim was published on six other websites. Although it is not possible to find a photo of the seized flags in the Srna agency’s article, the photo was published on the website Bljesak, in an article from January 9, 2022, in which the agency Srna is mentioned as the source of the photo.
In the mentioned Bljesak’s article and the one published by Pressmedia website, from January 10, 2022, the claim that the flags of the RBiH Army were confiscated was attributed to the “Doboj police”.
Doboj police sanctioned a person from Zenica, E.B., in whose vehicle 30 flags were found and confiscated (as they stated these are “the war flags of the Army of BiH”), and this person and his companion, according to the police, are interesting for security purposes.
What are the facts?
The flag from the photo published in those articles claiming that 30 flags of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina were confiscated, is actually the flag of the Republic of BiH. Raskrinkavanje wrote about the inadequate presentation of these flags on several occasions, in the analysis from November 2018, March 2021, December 2021, and January 2022.
Both flags are based on the coat of arms of the Kotromanic dynasty. There are, clearly, similarities between them. However, the flags differ from each other in several elements. For instance, the flag of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina represents a symbol of this armed formation, and, unlike the flag of the Republic of BiH, behind the coat of arms with lilies are two crossed golden swords.
There are no crossed golden swords and the inscription “Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina” in the published photo.
Since it can be concluded from Srna’s articles that the Doboj Police Administration confirmed to the media that these were the flags of the RBiH Army, which Bljesak and Pressmedia explicitly stated, Raskrinkavanje contacted the Doboj Police Department. As they told us, the confiscated flags were characterized in a press statement as “white flags with a blue coat of arms with lilies”.
In a statement for the media, i.e., in this case for the news agency “SRNA”, the Doboj Police Administration did not confirm that the Doboj police confiscated 30 war flags of the so-called Army of BiH. However, it was stated that on January 9 this year, in Doboj, the police found in the trunk of BMW vehicle 30 pieces of white flags with a blue coat of arms which the police confiscated. The press statement also said that such a flag is no longer in use by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We also confirmed that one person from the vehicle was sanctioned for the violation of Article 7 of the Law on Public Order and Peace of the Republic of Srpska.
Therefore, the Doboj Police Administration did not point out that these were the flags of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, the claims suggesting that the police stated those were the flags of this military formation, are not true.
Based on the published photo and statements made by the police, the flags of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina were confiscated, and therefore the claims that “the flags of the so-called ARBiH” are also incorrect.
As stated in the response of the Doboj Police Department to Raskrinkavanje, the person who had these flags in his vehicle was sanctioned for a violation of Article 7 of the Law on Public Order and Peace of the Republika Srpska, which states the following:
Anyone who disturbs public order and peace by arguing, shouting, screaming, performing or reproducing musical content or lyrics, wearing or displaying symbols, images, drawings or lyrics of obscene, offensive or harassing content and other indecent or insolent behavior, unless the aforementioned does not apply to a publicly expressed opinion on the work of state bodies and other public bodies and organizations, shall be punished with a fine of 100 KM to 300 KM.
Given the facts, the claim that the flags of the Army of RBiH were confiscated in Doboj, published for the first time by the Srna agency, is assessed as fake news. Other sharings of the same claim receive the rating for distribution of fake news.
The claim that the Doboj Police Administration stated that it confiscated the flags of the Army of RBiH is rated as disinformation.
Note:
January 24, 2022: After the publication of this analysis, the website Pressmedia altered incorrect allegations in its article and received a corrected grade.