Every year, the Srebrenica Memorial Center publishes a report on the denial of genocide in the media space in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the region, and in the past year, they included 234 cases. They stressed that most denials of this crime come from Serbia, that politicians are frequent actors in denial, and that the member of the Presidency of BiH is at the forefront when it comes to genocide denial.
The last report they published covered the period from May 1st, 2020 to May 1st, 2021. 143 actors who denied genocide in public space were identified, of which 132 were natural persons, and the remaining 11 were legal entities or groups of people.
If we look at where genocide is most often denied, most of the actors were located in Serbia (84), where a law banning the denial of crimes was passed earlier. In BiH, 38 actors were recorded, of which 35 were in the Republika Srpska (RS), 12 in Montenegro, and 9 actors from all other countries.
Out of 234 acts of genocide denial in the public, more precisely media space in BiH and our region, most of them took place in Serbia (142), in BiH (60), of which 57 were in the RS entity, inMontenegro (19), and (14) from all other states.
The most common deniers are politicians
Most actors were from the field of politics (50), which includes political parties, followed by persons working in the media and media organizations (39), persons and institutions in the field of education and science (13), different forms of right-wing activism (9), as well as field of culture and art (6).
The finding that in 28 cases of persons denying genocide were either officials of the executive (16) or legislative (12) authorities, mostly in Serbia or BiH entity RS is worrying.
”Among the persons provided with a public platform for genocide denial were those who had direct roles in the wars of the 1990s, including those who held political functions(Momcilo Krajisnik, Nenad Kecmanovic, Srdja Trifkovic), and those who commanded or participated in the formation and/or actions of military and paramilitary formations on the territory of BiH and Croatia (Veselin Sljivancanin, Milomir Savcic, Dragoslav Bokan, Nenad Stevandic, Rajko Vasic, Vojislav Seselj), led by Ratko Mladic. When it comes to the individual actors, the member of the Presidency of BiH, Milorad Dodik, most often appears as a denier of genocide, ” they added from the Srebrenica Memorial Center.
The entire Srebrenica Genocide Denial Report is available on the Srebrenica Memorial Center website.
The Prosecution of BiH will launch an investigation into the genocide denial
Rapidly after Valentin Inzko imposed amendments to the Criminal Code, which punish the denial of genocide and glorification of criminals, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH promised to form a case against those who deny genocide.
This case will follow publications and public statements of individuals, groups, or associations, which deny genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in BiH.
The collection of materials will be implemented in cooperation with partner police and security agencies, so the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and partner institutions could act within the legal powers, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
