The dark shadow of Srebrenica

Published: 19 June 2017

In recent days the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina has focused on a proposed amendment to the Criminal Code that would introduce a prison sentence of five to ten years for denial of the genocide at Srebrenica. Even though the bloodiest event in the civil wars in the Balkans is recognized by the international community as genocide, Bosnian Serbs insistently reject that definition. The proposed amendment would also prescribe punishment for crimes committed in the media (hate speech, incitement to hatred).

Parliament of the Serb Republic of Bosnia

The Parliament of the Serb Republic of Bosnia. Photo: 24sata.info

 The Government of Bosnia proposes to amend the Criminal Code of the country by introducing penalties for the denial of events declared as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by Bosnian or international courts. The Bill proposes as much as five to ten years of imprisonment for such crimes. This is a highly contentious issue for the political forces in this ethnically divided country, given the numerous serious atrocities the civilian population suffered during the recent Balkan wars. The political will of some leaders is often insufficient to achieve reconciliation, as the public remains highly polarized. This is also reflected in the media.

The political parties commenting on these proposals have already entered a war of words and it is almost certain that the nationalist parties will prevent the enactment of the Bill. Leading Bosnian Serb politicians have condemned the Bill and called it an attempt at stigmatizing Serbs, maintaining their view that while the events of the war were horrific crimes, the massacre at Srebrenica cannot be seen as genocide.

By contrast, the proponent of the Bill Predrag Kojović used the press to send a message to politicians criticizing the proposed law, highlighting that their very resistance and argumentation was proof of how necessary such legislation was. He says that these parties thrive on the current unfortunate situation, when everyone is free to use for manipulation these tragic events of the war, which continue to traumatize society to this day. Their resistance also demonstrates that they are still unable to identify with the standards expected by the civilized world in such matters.

Articles in the media and the comments posted below them clearly witness to the divisions within society. Some readers employ a harsh tone in their attacks on the Bill, claiming that ‘there is no proof’ of the war crimes committed in Bosnia. Responses inevitably follow, listing at length the mass graves discovered and the internationally attested events, which meet in full the criteria stated in the law. There appears to be little discussion of action against incitement to violence and hatred and against hate speech, even though many of these comments would probably fall into these categories and could raise the possibility of having to bring criminal proceedings.