Denial of the genocide in Srebrenica decreased significantly in the first year since the beginning of the legal ban on downplaying and denying war crimes. But the lack of charges raises fears among victims that impunity could lead to re-emboldening deniers.
Idriz Smajic from Bratunac survived the genocide in July 1995. That month, he was wounded through both legs, and due to the lack of medical assistance after moving to Tuzla, part of his leg was amputated. Today, he lives in Sarajevo with his family. Due to the lack of security caused by the denial of genocide and the glorification of convicted war criminals, he decided not to return to Bratunac.
“As someone who survived the genocide, I see that there is denial of the genocide every day, but nothing happens, no indictment has been brought in this capacity,” he noted.
The State Prosecutor’s Office confirmed for the Balkan Research Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH) that they have more than 50 criminal charges filed based on the ban on denying genocide, other war crimes or glorifying criminals imposed last year by the former high representative in BiH, Valentin Inzko.
Prosecutor Oleg Cavka says that the Prosecutor’s Office of BiHhas undertaken investigative actions in most of the cases about which it received a report, ordered police agencies to collect evidence, such as video recordings of shows “in which some unwanted words were spoken”.
“However, after that, we still haven’t reached the stage where we got the impression that all the elements of a criminal offense have been met in such a way that the court could condemn it, that is, make a decision about someone’s guilt,” says Cavka.
In the Srebrenica Memorial Center, they say that since the changes were imposed in July last year, denial of the genocide has decreased significantly. In the annual report published in the week of the 27th anniversary of the genocide, the results show that denial of the genocide in Republika Srpska (RS) has decreased by five times compared to the year before Inzko’s changes, according to Edin Ikanovic.
He tracks the denial and records it for the annual report. He says that since last year, they have recorded more than 400 examples of genocide denial, but that most of them come from Serbia.
“What the report will show, we will see that after the adoption of the law, there was a drastic decrease in the number of denials in the territory of BiH, that is, the territory of the RS entity, where the denials were coming from. In some percentages, it could be said that over 80 percent denial of genocide is reduced when it comes to the RS entity,” stated Ikanovic.
While all interlocutors agree that the denial of crimes has decreased after the adoption of amendments to the law, Murat Tahirovic, president of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, says that among returnees as well as citizens, the non-processing of these parts causes certain doubts in the Prosecutor’s Office because “not one of those reports was not processed correctly way nor it informed the public about what it has done in that regard”, Detektor writes.
E.Dz.
