Denial of Srebrenica genocide is a criminal offense in Bosnia

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A man mourns in a cemetery on the 26th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre

Photo: Armin Durgut / PIXSELL / imago images / Pixsell

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, denying the Srebrenica genocide in 1995 is now a criminal offense.

This was decreed by the high representative of the international community in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, more than a quarter of a century after the murder of around 8,000 people in Sarajevo on Friday.

Previously, attempts in parliament to enshrine such a regulation in law had failed for years - above all because of the resistance of ethnic Serbian politicians.

The regulation comes into force on July 31st.

Accordingly, the simple denial of the genocide is punished with up to three years in prison.

If the perpetrator is an official, three years' imprisonment will be added and another three years if the act is accompanied by threats and insults.

Anyone who awards prizes and public honors to convicted war criminals must also be imprisoned for three years.

Serbian nationalists still deny it

In July 1995, police and Serb paramilitaries killed around 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in and around Srebrenica.

The International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court in The Hague classified the massacre as genocide.

Serbian nationalists throughout the former Yugoslavia repeatedly deny this.

The office of High Representative was created in the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the Bosnian War.

He should accompany and support the reconstruction.

To this end, he can intervene in political events, pass and repeal laws and remove politicians from office.

Incumbent Inzko stops at the end of the month.

The Austrian's successor will be the former Federal Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt (CSU).

mjm / dpa