The Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Zlatko Lagumdžija, attended the commemoration on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica and the raising of the BiH flag in Bowling Greens Park, organized by the American-Bosnian Community in New York. The event was also attended by the mayor of New York, Eric Adams.
Ambassador Lagumdžija reminded in his address that 28 years have passed since the genocide in Srebrenica and 20 years after the first funeral in Potočari for 600 found, identified and buried out of 8372 victims.
As he said, in July 1995, in a brutal criminal operation, with a clear intention, according to a precisely defined plan, executions were organized in a brutal manner, among which were over 800 children. All this was done knowingly in order to physically and biologically destroy Bosniaks as an ethnic group.
“The then political and military authorities of the Republika Srpska planned the crime of genocide and provided logistical support to the criminals. The authorities then covered up the crimes by digging up and covering up mass graves, which, I emphasize, was also confirmed by the decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague,” emphasized Lagumdžija.
For the crime of genocide against Bosniaks in and around Srebrenica, he said, the Hague Tribunal had sentenced the first president of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, as well as other top political and military officials, to life imprisonment.
“They were sentenced with finality, but unlike the victims, their project is not dead. Unfortunately, the current president of that entity, Milorad Dodik, has not yet learned the lessons from the verdicts of international courts. On the contrary, similar to Radovan Karadzic, Dodik denies the crime of genocide committed, insults the victims as well as their families, and with specific anti-constitutional moves seriously endangers the preservation of peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region,” said Lagumdžija.
He points out that the UN and the democratic countries of the world have unequivocally seen the mistakes committed towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tragic mistakes can no longer be corrected, but that is why we have an obligation to prevent new crimes that would arise on the same foundations together.
“That is why it is necessary to do everything in our power to urgently and decisively stop the pro-Russian president of the RS before he dramatically destabilizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Western Balkans and the wider Euro-Atlantic space. This is the right place and time to call on the EU to wake up and join the sanctions established by the USA and Great Britain against the deniers of genocide and the breakers of the Dayton Peace Agreement,” said Lagumdžija.
At the end, he asked to thank everyone who spreads the truth about Srebrenica and gives hope to new generations that they will live in a sustainable and better world and society than the one we live in today.
