Milorad Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska (RS), has directly denied the genocide at least 23 times since the act of genocide denial became a criminal offense by the decision of the High Representative in BiH in June 2021. Despite these denials being accompanied by threats of secession and the spread of hatred towards non-Serb populations, no indictments have been filed against him to date.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has not responded to inquiries about cases against Dodik for genocide denial, nor about the complaints and investigations that this office is conducting.
Increase in genocide denial expected after resolution adoption
The Srebrenica Memorial Center, which monitors genocide denials, has observed a decrease in denial since it became punishable in 2021. However, they have noted sharp increases in denials around the time of voting on the Srebrenica genocide resolution at the United Nations (UN) and expect denials to increase by the end of the year.
Edin Ikanovic, one of the authors of the report on genocide denial, states that they recorded 90 cases of denial last year alone. The report includes media publications online and statements by public figures in BiH, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro that deny, minimize, relativize, or otherwise distort the facts about the Srebrenica genocide.
”In comparison to the previous year, when we had a decreasing trend in the number of denials, this year we will see a significant increase, along with the number of actors involved, which is very sad. We will now have many more individual actors who deny and relativize the genocide in various ways,” says Ikanovic.
According to their reports, one public figure leads in genocide denial – Milorad Dodik.
”What we see now, and have seen for several years, is that Milorad Dodik is the number one figure when it comes to genocide denial, and his method of denial is essentially used or followed by political actors or people close to him,” explains Ikanovic.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has not filed a single indictment for genocide denial or glorification of war criminals for over two years. It was only in April of this year that the first indictment was filed – against Vojin Pavlovic, for glorifying convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, and shortly after that, a second indictment for approving and attempting to justify the genocide in Srebrenica, Detektor writes.
E.Dz.
