On July 11, 2021, 19 victims of the Srebrenica genocide were found buried in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- The Srebrenica massacre was the genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica in July 1995.
- However, Serb leaders in Bosnia and Serbia generally deny that the Holocaust constitutes genocide and instead call it a “major crime.”
- The leaders opposed the ban on denial of genocide enacted by the UN representative in Bosnia.
The European Union on Friday warned Bosnian Serb leaders not to deny the massacre in Srebrenica as genocide because they opposed the ban on denial of genocide set by the UN representative in Bosnia.
“Revisionism and the denial of genocide contradict the most basic European values,” said Nabila Masrari, a spokesman for the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borel.
“The European Union urges all political leaders not to resort to inflammatory and divisive speech, and not to take measures that might undermine the country’s prospects for Europe.”
The high-level UN representative in Bosnia used his discretion on Friday to prohibit denial of genocide in the country, a move widely regarded as a response to the Srebrenica massacre and was immediately opposed by the Serbian president.
The 1995 Srebenica massacre was deemed genocide by various judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
However, Serb leaders in Bosnia and Serbia generally deny that the Holocaust constitutes genocide and instead call it a “major crime.”
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The mission of the United Nations High Representative in Bosnia is to ensure compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the bloody inter-clan conflicts of the 1990s, but the position also holds various administrative powers.
Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko (Valentin Inzko) added several amendments to the Bosnian Criminal Law, including those who “publicly approved, denied, severely reduced or tried to defend genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. People are punishable by six months to five years’ imprisonment.” Crime”, according to a document posted on the website of the Office of the High Representative.
Milorad Dodik, a Serb member of the Bosnian Trio Presidium, immediately criticized Inzko’s actions, saying that the senior representative “has no right to do this.”
In July 1995, just a few months before the end of the war that killed about 100,000 people, the Serbian army rounded up and killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys after occupying the town of Srebrenica.
