For 27 years, the Srebrenica genocide has been denied in various forms, from denial that there was any crime at all, through denial of the number of the murdered and their civilian status and the fact that genocide verdicts even exist, participants in a forum titled ‘Acknowledging genocide and officially marking 11 July as a pledge for peace’ in Belgrade have said.
Mentioning “more horrific and bigger crimes committed against Serbs” is another form of denial, Humanitarian Law Center’s Isidora Stakić told participants.
“People who deny genocide have come up with the idea that acknowledging genocide would mean that Serbs are a genocidal people, even though only individuals and institutions have been accused of the crime,” she said.
Sofija Todorović of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) said there was no will in the expert community to define Srebrenica as an example of something that must never happen again. “The genocide in Srebrenica has been ascertained and explained, but in political life in Serbia, there is complete silence on that subject or extreme rhetoric on others, with the expectation for all to cooperate with Serbia,” said Todorović.
Zoran Vuletić of the Civic Democratic Forum said that, although the Hague tribunal’s verdicts on genocide had been made “based on thousands of pages of evidence,” this was denied in Serbia.
Lawyer Sead Spahović recalled that a total of seven people had been convicted of genocide in five cases and that genocide had been judicially ascertained, with different culprits in those cases.
On Monday evening, which marked the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, several NGOs presented a digital project titled “Life Is What the Dead Dream of,” by Mia David, which shows the names of the victims via a mobile phone on the Serbian parliament building in Belgrade.
The President of the Bosniak National in Serbia Council, Jasmina Ćurić said on Monday in Novi Pazar, that “the Srebrenica genocide is the biggest crime that was committed on European soil,” and which must never be forgotten.
She said that Srebrenica was “an eternal wound, not only of the Bosniaks in the Serbian region of Sandzak and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but of all of Europe.”
“We will recall all the crimes committed in Srebrenica and crimes committed against Bosniaks throughout history, not to hate but to teach new generations to never let that happen again,” said Ćurić.
The Bosniak National Council organised several events as part of the Day of Remembrance of Genocide in Srebrenica, such as an exhibition of illustrations called Reminder, by author Admir Delić, and handing out of the so-called Srebrenica Flower in Novi Pazar.
