Serbian President Under Fire for Denying Srebrenica Genocide
Serbia’s new nationalist president sparked international criticism when he called the massacre at Srebrenica merely a serious crime in need of investigation. His comments may hinder Serbia’s chances of joining the EU.
In an interview with Montenegrin television, newly elected Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said it was “very difficult to prove in court that an incident took the form of genocide.” He went on to call the massacre that occurred in Srebrenica a “serious war crime committed by a few Serbs,” adding that the perpetrators should face criminal charges for their actions.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice, however, see the matter differently. Both bodies called the murder of more than 8,000 Bosniaks by Serbian troops in July 1995 an act of genocide. The courts went on to rule that Serbia was not directly responsible for the massacre, but added that the country broke international law by failing to prevent it, and by not contributing to bringing those responsible to justice.