A few days before the end of his mandate, the high international representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Austrian Valentin Inzko, took, on July 23, the historic decision to prohibit the denial of the genocide of Srebrenica, committed during the conflict which tore this Balkan country between 1992 and 1995. Under the special legislative powers granted to him since the Dayton Accords, signed in 1995, the diplomat introduced amendments to the Bosnian penal code to punish from six months to five years of prison people who “Publicly approve, deny, grossly downplay or attempt to justify the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
“At a time when we observe an escalation in the glorification of war criminals, it was necessary to do something”, justifies, in an interview with World, Mr. Inzko, 72, who is preparing to retire on Saturday July 31, after more than twelve years at the head of this international institution which has supervised Bosnia-Herzegovina since the end of the war. “I would have preferred a local solution, but it has failed four or five times in Parliament”, he denounces to justify the use of his special legislative powers for the first time in ten years in this country still deeply divided between Serbs, Croats and Bosnians.
Anger of the Bosnian Serbs
The amendments entered into force on Wednesday July 28. In theory, the law does not specifically apply to the Srebrenica genocide, during which 8,000 Muslim men and adolescents were slaughtered by Serbian forces. But it is obvious that the Serbian denialist rhetoric, increasingly widespread in recent years, in Bosnia is the main target of the text.
“I waited for the final verdict in the case of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic [respectivement ex-président et ex-chef militaire des Serbes de Bosnie, condamnés en appel en 2019 et 2020 pour génocide par la justice internationale] before acting “, explains Mr. Inzko, who also mentions the decorations which the two men still enjoy despite their conviction.
The legislative amendments of the international guardian have, moreover, triggered the anger of the Bosnian Serbs. From Banja Luka, the capital of their entity, where MM. Mladic and Karadzic are always openly glorified, all the leaders of Serbian political parties announced on Monday their desire to boycott the national institutions installed in Sarajevo. The representative of the Serbs in the rotating presidency, the nationalist Milorad Dodik, launched a petition and even brandished his favorite threat, that of ” dissolve ” Bosnia. This politician who had, however, recognized the reality of the genocide ten years ago continues to deny its existence.
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