North Macedonian Official Faces Calls for Dismissal After Praising War Criminals

Eight civil society organizations in North Macedonia have demanded the immediate dismissal of Dalibor Kitanović. He is the director of the Agency for Realization of Community Rights. This call came after Kitanović made a public post. The post praised the Chetnik movement and war criminals Draža Mihailović and Ratko Mladić. Ratko Mladić was convicted for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes by international courts in The Hague.

The organizations are deeply concerned. Kitanović leads an agency that protects the rights of minority groups, including Bosniaks. They have asked North Macedonia's government to examine his responsibility and act. They also urged the Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate if criminal offenses were committed, such as justifying genocide or war crimes. These groups have stopped all activities with the Agency as long as Kitanović remains its head.

The EU Delegation in Skopje is closely watching the situation. Martin Schroeder, the acting head, confirmed the EU's strong stance. He said there is no place for glorifying war criminals in countries that belong to or want to join the EU. The EU has informed North Macedonian authorities of this position. No EU-funded activities are planned with the Agency at this time. The European Union stands for human dignity, democracy, and equality. It believes European society cannot tolerate genocide denial or praise for convicted war criminals. The civil society groups emphasized that this is a matter of shared human values and institutional accountability.