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Last modified April 19, 2013

Serbian denial of Serb war crimes in Bosnia continues, even after the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. This denial is endorsed and abetted by various Western commentators, even including some supposedly in the progressive community.

Here we examine some common misrepresentations of Serbian war crimes in Bosnia.

“The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past”.              --William Faulkner

 

Below:    Gen. Ratko Mladic War Diaries    Numbers of Bosnian War Dead    International Court of Justice Decision in the case of Bosnia v. Serbia    Genocide on the Drina    Srebrenica     Face to face with Radovan Karadzic By Ed Vulliamy, The Observer (London), December 3, 2011     Michael Dobbs' Srebrenica Blog     Mapping Genocide Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 17, 2011     Memories of a better future in the aftermath of the Srebrenica genocide By Hariz Halilovich, June 2011     Srebrenica - war crimes deniers     Noam Chomsky invited to give the annual Amnesty International Lecture (October 2009)     Controversy over the interview with Chomsky in the Guardian (UK), Oct 31, 2005     Srebrenica Documentary Background     Srebrenica Survivors Lawsuits     Articles on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre     Bosnia: The confession of a war criminal By Renaud Girard and Patrick de Saint-Exupery, Le Figaro (Paris), March 8, 1996 (in French)    Srebrenica Photos:     The Betrayal of Srebrenica: A Commemoration by Paula Allen and Lisa DiCaprio, 2005     Srebrenica Memorial Photos by Peter Lippman, September-October 2008   Prijedor: Serbian concentration camps at Trnopolje and Omarska    Bosnia's Cultural Heritage    Mujahedin in Bosnia    Greek role in Bosnia conflict

Mladic War Diaries The documents show how Serbia almost entirely funded the Bosnian Serb military forces. It is clear from the diaries that the Republika Srpska Army was created on the basis of a plan designed in the cabinet of then Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Southeast European Times, August 5, 2010
See also:
The day when British justice humbled the British and Serbian governments The most spectacular, and historically most important, event in Ejup Ganic's trial was Serbia's formal admission that up to May 15, 1992 the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was an international military conflict, in which the Yugoslav Army fought under Belgrade's command - an official, written Serbian admission that it was a case of an "international armed conflict in which two concerned parties took part, namely Bosnia-Herzegovina on one side and Serbia on the other." Bosnian Institute News (London), August 21, 2010

Numbers of Bosnian War Dead The Bosnian Book of Dead: Assessment of the Database An independent review of the Population Loss Project of the Research and Documentation Centre in Sarajevo. June 17, 2007 Bosnian war killed 97,000 people - study Bosnia's 1992-1995 war claimed some 97,000 lives. The non-governmental Research and Documentation Centre presented the results of the four-year study. Using hundreds of different sources, the organization created a huge database containing names and other information on each victim, including photographs of more than 55,000 of them. "The purpose of this research was to reduce space for manipulation with figures on war victims," said a representative, regarding the project financed mainly by the Norwegian foreign ministry. June 21, 2007 What do the figures for the Bosnian war-dead tell us? Analysis of the above study. By Marko Hoare, January 4, 2008 Srebrenica victim count Number of Srebrenica genocide victims stands at 8372, as of December 2008 Srebrenica victims body identification DNA Results of the International Commission on Missing Persons Reveal the Identity of 6,186 Srebrenica Victims. July 9, 2009 Bosnia and Herzegovina: Death Toll 104,732 wartime estimated deaths. By the Demographic Unit of the Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), January 2010 Numbers of Dead and Missing from Srebrenica This is an earlier examination. Numerous more mass graves have since been discovered. But this article is useful in discussing the origins of the list of dead and missing. By Andras Riedlmayer, July 19, 2005 Bosnian Atlas of War Crimes is a Geographic Information System (GIS) that uses Google Earth technology and presents the facts about the 1992-1995 war in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in an innovative and unconventional way. On a digital map of Bosnia and Herzegovina, researchers, scholars and anyone who is interested can access to information from the database and other resources about locations of mass murders, rapes, destruction, as well as information about the war events in every part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Requires Google Earth (free download). Research and Documentation Center, Sarajevo, December 2010 Ljudski gubici u BiH (Human Losses in Bosnia and Herzegovina) In Bosnian. Includes charts with numbers by region. Powerpoint files. Research and Documentation Center, Sarajevo

Genocide on the Drina A book by Edina Becirevic, 2009. The book begins with the basics about genocide in the first chapter and then gives a historical overview of genocide in the Balkans. Special emphasis is placed upon Serb nationalist programs from the 19th century, ranging from the Serb nationalist politician Ilija Garašin's program to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Memorandum from 1986 in the second chapter. The third chapter deals with the Bosnian Serb modus operandi in committing the Bosnian Genocide. The fourth chapter is the most important one; in it the author explains in detail how genocide was committed in 10 towns in Eastern Bosnia in 1992/93. The fifth chapter deals with modern-day Bosnia and the common issue of post-genocidal societies: denial of committed crimes.

In the past years the spotlight has been almost exclusively on the Srebrenica genocide, which suits many political and intellectual circles in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The "genocidal processes" in other areas from 1992-1995, as the author puts it, are completely forgotten and even denied. Unlike other authors, Edina has the courage to use the term "genocide" instead of the jaded term "ethnic cleansing" to explain the events in Eastern Bosnia in 1992/93, which were the systematic destruction, murder, and rape of Bosniaks. The author's central thesis is that genocide in Eastern Bosnia started in 1992 in several towns such as Zvornik, Bratunac, Vlasenica, Visegrad, Rogatica, Foca and Srebrenica. The author provides us with new details of Serb genocidal bureaucratic policies such as the ordering of the establishment of the infamous Susica concentration camp, which she substantiated with an original document ordering its formation, as well as orders for the expulsion of the Muslim inhabitants of Birac. She also pays special attention to the "slow genocide" in Srebrenica, where tens of thousands of starving Bosnian Muslims were kept under siege, and to the raids carried out in quest for food in surrounding militarized Serb villages. She clearly notes: "The defenders of Srebrenica were under constant pressure from starving people who protested on a daily basis, in front of the war presidency in Srebrenica, asking for organized action to gather food."

International Court of Justice Decision in the case of Bosnia v. Serbia The Court finds that Serbia has violated its obligation under the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide in Srebrenica and that it has also violated its obligations under the Convention by having failed fully to co-operate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Press Release Summary of the Judgment of 26 February 2007 (PDF) Judgment of 26 February 2007 (PDF) Opinion of the Court's Vice President - Dissent from the Court's decision not to find Serbia guilty of genocide. (PDF) Commentary: Peter Lippman  Marko Hoare  Martin Shaw (And interview with Shaw)  Anthony Dworkin  Martin Shaw's reply to Anthony Dworkin How Belgrade Escaped Genocide Charge Belgrade has more than once invoked national security to stop the Hague tribunal from sharing with the International Court of Justice documents related to the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. It is widely believed that the transcripts, which record the meetings of top Serbian officials, contain evidence of Belgrade’s direct involvement in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s. Among the documents were files of the Bosnian Serb generals, including top fugitive General Ratko Mladic, who were on the Yugoslav army’s payroll during the war. By Slobodan Kostic, IWPR, February 15, 2008 (Republished May 2, 2008) Vital Genocide Documents Concealed The former official spokeswoman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia's chief prosecutor provides a systematic review of the way in which minutes of Serbia’s Supreme Defence Council, that might provide evidence against Serbia for genocide at Srebrenica, have been concealed by that same tribunal. As a result of her revelation, she has been charged with contempt of court by a trial chamber of the Tribunal. By Florence Hartmann, January 21, 2008 Call for Serbia to Release Confidential Documents Academics say they want disclosure so that Serbia’s role in the Bosnian war can be assessed objectively. By Merdijana Sadovic, IWPR, November 25, 2007 New Light Shed on Belgrade Role in Bosnian War The International Court of Justice decided Serbia was not to blame for the genocide in Bosnia, but documents quietly published in Montenegro hint it may have been wrong. At the time, it seemed bizarre that the ICJ declined to demand minutes of Serbia’s Supreme Defence Council as evidence in the case, and a few glimpses of the transcripts in a new book make it look even more so. By Edina Becirevic, IWPR November 16, 2007 (Republished November 27, 2007) Bosnia vs Serbia: The evidence scandal Redacted documents confirm that Bosnian Serb political and army structures were under direct control by the Serbian government, who also gave them financial and logistical support. Evidence would have made Serbia liable for the Srebrenica genocide, and whenever the agenda turned to discussion of the financing of the Bosnian Serb army and personnel matters, as well as to Croatian Serb activities, the documents were blacked out in places. During the war in Bosnia, up to 4,000 officers on the Yugoslav Army payroll were serving in the Bosnian Serb Army. ISN Security Watch, International Relations and Security Network, April 24, 2007 Srebrenica Massacre Verdicts Spark Outrage Among Survivors The Advocacy Project, April 12, 2007 Genocide Court Ruled for Serbia Without Seeing Full War Archive This article comes at a particularly awkward moment for Belgrade, as it tries to invoke international legality as the reason why it should be allowed to hang on to Kosovo, at least de jure if not de facto. By Marlise Simons, New York Times, April 9, 2007

   Mapping Genocide This documentary animation presents the chronology of events in Srebrenica between July 6 and 19, 1995. The material lasts 220 minutes and is divided into 17 maps. By Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo), June 17, 2011

   Memories of a better future in the aftermath of the Srebrenica genocide I am not under any illusion that Mladić’s arrest and his trial at the Hague Tribunal might somehow reverse history and bring back all those lost people who made the places Mladić destroyed. I know that my place of birth will forever be tainted with Mladić’s name and the genocide he committed there, rather than known for its natural beauty, rich cultural history, and the people who live(d) there. Like thousands of other survivors, I’ll have to live with this reality and hold onto, as best I can, memories of Srebrenica before Mladić. Nonetheless, I’m hoping that Mladić’s trial will give back dignity to those brutally murdered, and restore the minimum of belief that justice does prevail in the end - that war crimes, like any other crimes, never pay. It is also critical that this possibly last trial at The Hague sparks a public debate on the broader context emphasised in this article: that the 8,372 victims at Srebrenica, 10,000 in Sarajevo, and tens of thousands across Bosnia did not die in a natural disaster. They were all victims of politics still very much alive in Serbia and even more so in Republika Srpska. By Hariz Halilovich, openDemocracy, June 13, 2011

 

Srebrenica: War-crimes deniers A question for genocide deniers The cold-blooded murder of 7,000-8,000 Muslim men following the fall of the United Nations "safe area" in July 1995 is probably the most documented war crime in history -- but there are still those who insist it never happened. By Michael Dobbs, Foreign Policy, February 1, 2012 Edward Herman: The Politics of the Srebrenica Massacre On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, Herman insults the survivors with denial of Serbian atrocities and apologetics for Serbian aggression. Several readers responded. July 2005    More on Edward Herman here. Antiwar.com: While the perpetrators of the Bosnian Serb massacre of over 7,000 Muslims at Srebrenica are starting to confess (see Bosnian Serbs finally admit truth of Srebrenica deaths), Serb nationalist apologists are still denying that the massacre happened. Antiwar.com is among the prominent deniers. For a good antidote, see The Independent, November 5, 2003. The article notes, "The Bosnian Serb government has admitted for the first time that Bosnian Serb forces were responsible for the mass slaughter of Muslims in Srebrenica in July, 1995, Europe's worst atrocity since the end of the Second World War." See also Remains of dozens found in Bosnia's largest grave. (The Independent, July 29, 2003) Noam Chomsky: See a listing of various Chomsky statements denying or minimizing Serbian crimes against the peoples of Bosnia and Kosovo. Srebrenica and Honesty The writer criticizes Chomsky for soft-peddling the Serbian massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica. "I cannot believe you are ignorant of the facts about Srebrenica and the Yugoslavian wars. You've devoted your life to uncovering hypocrisy and dispelling ignorance. So how am I to understand your bias in this matter?"  By Julie Wornan, member of Americans Against the War, France, January 4, 2005 Chomsky bamboozles on the Balkans II In an interview with Radio-TV Serbia, Chomsky endorses the lies of LM Magazine (see below). Oliver Kamm rebuts and rebukes Chomsky. June 2006 Chomsky misrepresents the Dutch investigation of Srebrenica. June 2006    More on Noam Chomsky here.   General Lewis MacKenzie: James Bissett: Former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia denies Srebrenica genocide "Missing civilians" from Srebrenica that are supposedly on the OSCE voting lists. This claim was presented to the OSCE and European Union by Dr. Dragan Kalinic, at that time president of the RS Parliament. This is propaganda that has been spread at regular intervals by the deniers of the massacre ever since the late 1990s. It's easy to make up a list of names. Kalinic was a collaborator with Karadzic and his direct political heir after the war. Eventually he was removed from office - see http://www.ohr.int/decisions/war-crimes-decs/default.asp?content_id=32750   Some of those names on the list may have been people who were thought to have been missing but indeed turned up surviving. Others were simply the same names as people who did go missing. In any case, that list doesn't disprove that there was a massacre. We know that at least some body parts of around 6,500 victims have been DNA-identified, as of 2010.