Serbian Lawmakers Debate Srebrenica Apology

Serbian Lawmakers Debate Srebrenica Apology

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 30.03.2010 15:01

(RFE/RL) -- Serbia today reopened one of the most painful chapters in its recent past when the parliament in Belgrade began debate on whether to apologize for the Srebrenica massacre.

Bosnian Serb troops and Serbian paramilitary forces killed some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in the UN-protected enclave in July 1995 -- the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

With Serbia seeking to join the European Union, a resolution has been proposed that highlights Belgrade's efforts to come to terms with atrocities committed in the name of Serbs during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

After two months of negotiations over the wording, it appears that an agreement has been reached that gives the draft resolution the majority needed for approval by the legislature.

Nada Kolundzija, parliamentary leader of the ruling Democratic Party, told lawmakers during today's debate that Belgrade must show the world it has distanced itself from the crimes that were committed during the 1990s.

"What we have to do today is say that Serbia does not stand behind those who committed this crime, Serbia does not discriminate between victims, Serbia equally appreciates every victims, expressing, first of all, deep empathy for the victims of others," Kolundzija said.

But many Serbs still deny the Srebrenica massacre, despite recognition by the United Nations and the European Union that the killings were an act of genocide.

The wording of the draft resolution being debated by Serbia's parliament expresses sympathy for Srebrenica's victims and apologizes for not doing enough to prevent the massacre, but it does not call the killings genocide. Instead, it condemns "the crime as it is described" in a 2009 European Parliamentary resolution, which -- along with a 2007 ruling by the International Court of Justice, uses the word "genocide" to describe the Srebrenica killings.

'Crime Of Genocide'

Radoslav Stojanovic, a professor of international law in Belgrade, tells RFE/RL's Balkan Service that such international resolutions and rulings allow Serbian lawmakers to acknowledge Srebrenica as "genocide" without actually using the word "genocide" themselves.

"Because the International Court of Justice in its ruling of 2007 held that the crimes that took place in Srebrenica were genocide, therefore in our declaration we don't have to worry or to invent a qualification for the crime in Srebrenica," Stojanovic says. "We only need to quote the ruling of the International Court of Justice, in which it is clearly stated that the crime that was committed in Srebrenica was a crime of genocide."

Nevertheless, Serbia's Liberal Democratic Party had been expected to propose an amendment to the draft resolution asking for the word "genocide" to be included. Today's debate, however, never addressed the issue.

The six members of the Serbian parliament from the Bosniaks List were expected to ask for July 11 to be designated as a day of remembrance for victims of genocide.

In Denial

Jelena Trivan, a member of parliament from President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party, told RFE/RL ahead of today's debate that some Serbs are in denial about the killings at Srebrenica -- five years after Tadic himself paid tribute to the victims.

"This is because we live in a country where [even] broadcasting of a film about Srebrenica in 2005 led to demands for the management of the television station to be punished for showing the truth about Srebrenica," Trivan said. "Because Boris Tadic was almost lynched because he apologized and bowed to the victims of Srebrenica."

In the Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, there is strong opposition to recognizing Srebrenica as genocide or apologizing for the killings there. Many Bosnian Serbs say their community also suffered from war crimes committed by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats.

Among them is Slavko Jovicic, a member of the Bosnian parliament from the People's Social Democratic Party of Republika Srpska's Prime Minister Milorad Dodik. Jovicic says that the draft resolution actually exacerbates tensions in the Balkans instead of moving the region toward reconciliation.

"I have the right to say openly, on behalf of the victims from my people, that as long as I am here -- and I hope other colleagues, too -- that this cannot be adopted. That is not possible," Jovicic says. "I know from numerous contacts with voters in Republika Srpska what they have told me. Even if another 15 years pass, maybe another parliament will have more strength and maybe some new truth will come out that will bring our positions closer. I am certain that we will not achieve peace [by adopting this resolution]. We are going toward new conflicts and confrontations of an unforeseeable magnitude."

'No Words Can Describe'

Meanwhile, even a Serbian apology would be little comfort for Bosnian Muslims like Ilijas Pilav, a Sarajevo surgeon who survived the July 1995 attack by escaping through the woods. Along with thousands of other Muslim men and boys, he had trekked for six days and nights through wilderness before reaching safety.

Pilav told Reuters it was "an experience that no words can describe," one that has left deep traces on his life that "no amount of time and no political declaration can ease."

Pilav said a Serbian parliament resolution that does not call the crime genocide would only add insult to injury.

Janja Bec, a Serbian human rights activist who lectures on genocide at universities, says Belgrade is taking a step forward to even talk about the Srebrenica killings. She says that "denial" is the final stage of genocide. But she also says the failure of the Serbian parliament to use the word "genocide" could inflame tensions in the Balkans.

"This is so insulting that it could badly influence the relations in the region," Bec says. "Not only now, but for the next several generations. A crime like this deserves the recognition that it really took place."

The Srebrenica massacre was carried out by Bosnian Serb soldiers and Serbian paramilitaries under the command of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serbs' wartime army chief. Mladic is now a fugitive from international law who has been indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

When Mladic led the Bosnian Serb onslaught against the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, he entered the town accompanied by Serbian camera crews, declaring Srebrenica as a "gift to Serbs" and a kind of retaliation for the conquest of Bosnia by the Ottoman Turkish empire.

The European Union has made the capture and extradition of Mladic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal a condition for progress in Belgrade's accession bid. Many people think he is hiding in Serbia with the help of Belgrade officials.

written by Ron Synovitz, with reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/Serbian_Parliament_Begins_Debate_On_Srebrenica_Apology/1997497.html

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Serbian Lawmakers Debate Srebrenica Apology