Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
The top international official in Bosnia on Friday outlawed denial of genocide in the Balkan country to counter attempts by Bosnia’s Serbs to deny the scope of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, Europe’s only post-World War II genocide.
The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia declared the Bosnian Serb killings of more than 8,000 Bosniaks that took place in Srebrenica during the Bosnian War as genocide. But Bosnian Serb officials and neighboring Serbia have refused to accept the designation.
Valentin Inzko, the outgoing head of Bosnia’s Office of the High Representative, or OHR, imposed changes Friday to the country’s criminal code, introducing prison sentences of up to five years for genocide denial and for the glorification of war criminals, including naming of streets or public institutions after them.
As the top international body overseeing implementation of the peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, the OHR has the authority to impose decisions or dismiss officials who undermine the post-war ethnic balance and reconciliation efforts among the Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, Bosnia’s Serbs and Croats.
Inzko said he decided to use his powers after waiting for years for Bosnia’s politicians to act. He cited a refusal by the Bosnian Serb assembly to withdraw decorations awarded to three convicted war criminals.
The genocide in Srebrenica happened after Bosnian Serbs took control over the eastern enclave in July 1995. They executed Bosniak men and boys and dumped their remains into mass graves which were later dug out and reburied to cover the crime. The victims’ remains are still being unearthed and identified.
Bosniak politicians and the relatives of the victims hailed Inzko’s decision, which was swiftly rejected by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is a member of Bosnia multi-ethnic presidency and the top politician in the Serb entity called Republika Srpska. Dodik threatened to launch a process of “dissolution” of Bosnia, the Klix news portal reported.
Dodik has repeatedly criticized the OHR and the West as biased against Serbs in Bosnia. The UN Security Council on Thursday rejected a resolution put forward by Serb allies Russia and China that would have immediately stripped the powers of the OHR in Bosnia.
Both Bosnian Serbs and Serbia, which backed the Bosnian Serbs during the war, have called the massacre a crime, refusing to acknowledge it was genocide.
