Serbia is preparing amendments to the Penalty Law which will make the denial of genocide or war crimes a criminal offense which can be penalized with six months to five years in prison, stated the Serbian parliament.
Denial of genocide and war crimes will be criminal offenses in Serbia is there is a final verdict for them pronounced by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague or by the court in Serbia, stated the Serbian Minister of Justice Nela Kuburović.
Minister Kuburović explained that in this way Serbia fulfills its obligations towards the European documents and standards.
“Anyone who publicly approves, denies the existence or significantly mitigates the severity of genocide, crime against humanity and war crimes committed against a group of people or a member of a group based on race, skin color, religion, origin, citizenship, national or ethnic affiliation… If those criminal offenses were confirmed by a final verdict before a court in Serbia or the International Criminal Tribunal, they will be penalized with prison sentence from six months to five years,” it is stated in the draft proposal.
Proposal of amendments to the Penalty Law is on the agenda of the current session of the Serbian parliament and it has already been opposed by delegates of right-wing and conservative parties.
Thus, delegate of the radicals (SRS) Nemanja Šarović said that the proposal is unacceptable and that the Serbian Radical Party of Vojislav Šešelj had already proposed an amendment. Decree on the denial of genocide and war crimes is also unacceptable for the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).
Delegates of Šešelj’s radicals wore badges which said “There was no genocide in Srebrenica”.
(Source: klix.ba)
