Bosnian genocide denial

Bosnian genocide denial is the act of denying the planned systematic genocide or the assertion that the Bosnian genocide, allegedly planned and perpetrated by SerbTemplate:Which one? academic, political and military establishment against Bosniak Muslim population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not occur in the manner or to the extent described by scholarship and established by the ICTY and the ICJ through its judgments. N.B. These two courts have issued widely different rulings on the cases in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The International Court of Justice has ruled that Serbia has nothing to do with the inter-ethnic war in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina.[1]

The Bosnian genocide is widely acknowledged and regarded by genocide scholars as the biggest and worst war-crime perpetrated on European soil since World War II.

With its "culture of denial", it can be compared to similar negationist historical revisionisms such as Armenian and Rwandan genocide denial, Nanking Massacre denial, or even Holocaust denial.

Culture of denial

Sonja Biserko, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, and Edina Bećirević, the Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies of the University of Sarajevo, have pointed to a culture of denial of the genocide in Serbian society:

Denial of the Srebrenica genocide takes many forms [in Serbia]. However, the International Court of Justice has ruled that Serbia has nothing to do with the inter-ethnic war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.[2]

According to Biserko, the methods range from the brutal to the deceitful. Denial is present most strongly in political discourse, in the media, in the sphere of law, and in the educational system.[3]

Tactics and methods

The debate among revisionist ranges from challenging the judicial recognition of the killings as an act of genocide to the denial of a massacre having taken place. The finding of genocide by the ICJ and the ICTY, has been disputed on evidential and theoretical grounds. The number of the dead has been questioned as has the nature of their deaths. It has been alleged that considerably fewer than 8,000 were killed and/or that most of those killed died in battle rather than by execution. It has been claimed that the interpretation of "genocide" is refuted by the survival of the women and children.

Attempted cover-up by mean of reburials to secondary and tertiary mass graves

From approximately 1 August 1995 to 1 November 1995, there was an organised effort to remove the bodies from primary mass gravesites and transport them to secondary and tertiary gravesites.[4] In the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia court case "Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic", the trial chamber found that this reburial effort was an attempt to conceal evidence of the mass murders.[5] The trial chamber found that the cover up operation was ordered by the VRS Main Staff and subsequently carried out by members of the Bratunac and Zvornik Brigades.[6]

The cover-up operation has had a direct impact on the recovery and identification of the remains. The removal and reburial of the bodies have caused them to become dismembered and co-mingled, making it difficult for forensic investigators to positively identify the remains.[7] For example, in one specific case, the remains of one person were found in two different locations, 30 km apart.[8] In addition to the ligatures and blindfolds found at the mass graves, the effort to hide the bodies has been seen as evidence of the organised nature of the massacres and the non-combatant status of the victims, since had the victims died in normal combat operations, there would be no need to hide their remains.[7][9]

Johnstone, Herman & Robles

Grave of a 13-year-old - Herman & Peterson claim "only military age men were targeted"

Similarly to their writing on Rwandan genocide, economist Edward S. Herman and independent researcher David Peterson, as well as Diana Johnstone and John Robles were engaged in revision and denial of the Bosnian genocide. In several articles, such as "The Politics of the Srebrenica Massacre", written by Herman, or "The Srebrenica Massacre was a Gigantic Political Fraud", penned by Herman and Robles, while repeating claims about political motives by western government and NATO conspirators from Herman & Peterson book "Politics of Genocide", authors, concentrating on the Srebrenica massacre, state that Serb at Srebrenica were actually "killing (of) Bosnian-Muslim soldiers" and even that was in response to the "killing of over 2,000 Serb civilians, mostly women and children, at the location by Bosnian-Muslim army", and that the numbers of executed Bosnian-Muslim soldiers "were probably in the order of between 500 and 1,000 (...) (i)n other words, less than half of the number of Serbs civilians killed before July, 1995".[10] For this complete reversal of reality they rely on and cite informations provided by another independent researcher Diana Johnstone, who herself never set foot in Bosnia, without a shadow of a doubt or critical examination into evidence and sources provided. They cite that women and children were largely spared and that only military age men were targeted.[11][12] This view is not supported by the findings of the ICJ or the ICTY.[13]

===Revisionist-denialist claims per sources:

Revisionist-denialist claims per sources:

  • Herman-Srebrenica-Gigantic-Political-Fraud-globalresearch Edward S. Herman|author2=John Robles|authorlink1=Edward S. Herman|title=The Srebrenica Massacre was a Gigantic Political Fraud|website=globalresearch.ca|accessdate=21 April 2017|date=11 July 2016}}</ref>
  • Report of Srebrenica Research Group, alleged that "the contention that as many as 8,000 Muslims were killed has no basis in available evidence and is essentially a political construct".
  • Report of International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), claimed that the "alleged casualty number of 7,000 victims [is] vastly inflated and unsupported by evidence"
  • The real story behind Srebrenica by the former UNPROFOR commander, Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, The Globe and Mail, 14 July 2005.
  • "The Forbidden Srebrenica report", report denying the Srebrenica massacre issued by the Republika Srpska Bureau for Cooperation with the ICTY in September 2002.
  • The Politics of the Srebrenica Massacre article argues that only some Bosniaks were executed, most died in battle, and some of the bodies in mass graves are actually Serbs, by Edward S. Herman, 7 July 2005</ref>

Critics, such as Edward S. Herman in his book The Srebrenica Massacre and the British journalist Mick Hume, cite a discrepancy between a figure of over 8,000 victims and the number of bodies found and identified as casting doubt on the explanation of the events, despite the long delays in locating mass graves and identifying the bodies in them.

During the Bosnian war, Slobodan Milošević had effective control of most Serbian media.[14][15][16][17] Following the end of the war, scepticism about Srebrenica continued to be widespread among Serbians.[18]

In March 2005, Miloš Milovanović, a former commander of the Serb paramilitary unit Serbian Guard who represents the Serbian Democratic Party in the Srebrenica Municipal Assembly said that "the massacre is a lie; it is propaganda to paint a bad picture of the Serbian people. The Muslims are lying; they are manipulating the numbers; they are exaggerating what happened. Far more Serbs died at Srebrenica than Muslims."[19][20]

Denial by officials

Similarly to case of Rwandan genocide denial or Armenian genocide denial, revisionist and denialist often claim that genocide is result of international political conspiracy, which invoked violence itself or exeggregated or invented , Roger Booboh, who declared that "to claim that a genocide occurred is closer to the politics of surrealism than to the truth".[21]

A high-ranking Serb and a UN official have claimed that no genocide on Bosniak Muslims the took place at all:

Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, has repeatedly insisted that massacre cannot be labeled as genocide.
  • Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, stated in an interview with the Belgrade newspaper Večernje Novosti in April 2010 that "we cannot and will never accept qualifying that event as a genocide". Dodik disowned the 2004 Republika Srpska report acknowledging the scale of the killing and apologising to the relatives of the victims, alleging that the report had been adopted because of pressure from the international community. Without substantiating the figure, he claimed that the number of victims was 3,500 rather than the 7,000 accepted by the report, alleging that 500 listed victims were alive and over 250 people buried in the Potocari memorial centre died elsewhere.[22] In July 2010, on the 15th anniversary of the massacre, Dodik declared that he did not regard the killings at Srebrenica as genocide, and maintained that "If a genocide happened then it was committed against Serb people of this region where women, children and the elderly were killed en masse" (referring to eastern Bosnia).[23] In December 2010, Dodik condemned the Peace Implementation Council, an international community of 55 countries, for referring to the Srebrenica massacre as genocide.[24]
  • Tomislav Nikolić, President of Serbia, stated on 2 June 2012 that "there was no genocide in Srebrenica. In Srebrenica, grave war crimes were committed by some Serbs who should be found, prosecuted and punished. […] It is very difficult to indict someone and prove before a court that an event qualifies as genocide."[25]

UN officials and commanders

  • Phillip Corwin, former UN Civilian Affairs Coordinator in Bosnia, advisor and contributor to the work of the Srebrenica Research Group[26] said "What happened in Srebrenica was not a single large massacre of Muslims by Serbs, but rather a series of very bloody attacks and counterattacks over a three-year period."[27]
  • Lewis MacKenzie, former commander of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Bosnia, was continuing to challenge the description of genocide in 2009 on the grounds firstly that the number of men and boys killed had been exaggerated by a factor of 4 and secondly that transfer of the women and children by bus contradicted the notion of genocide – the women would have been killed first if there had been an intent to destroy the group. Writing in the Journal of Military and Strategic Studies (Vol. 12, Issue 1, Fall 2009), MacKenzie expressed his opinion without reference to the detailed arguments published by the ICTY Trial and Appeal Chambers in the Krstic case judgements published several years earlier and confirmed by the ICJ since.[28][29]

Other individuals and groups who have engaged in denial

  • La Nation, a bi-monthly Swiss newspaper, published a series of articles claiming that 2,000 soldiers were killed in the "pseudo-massacre" in Srebrenica. The Society for Threatened Peoples and Swiss Association Against Impunity filed a joint suit against La Nation for genocide denial. Swiss law prohibits genocide denial.[30]
  • The Srebrenica Research Group, a group led by Edward S. Herman and including two former UN officials,[31] claimed in their conclusions published in Srebrenica And the Politics of War Crimes (2005), "The contention that as many as 8,000 Muslims were killed has no basis in available evidence and is essentially a political construct".[32]

The description of Srebrenica as a genocidal massacre has been disputed by Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer (left), and the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, Efraim Zuroff (right)
  • Genocide scholar William Schabas in his 2009 book Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes summarises the legal opinions regarding the status of the atrocities committed in Srebrenica and throughout the Bosnian war, deeming them ethnic cleansing and not genocide, stating that "Ethnic cleansing is also a warning sign of genocide to come. Genocide is the last resort of the frustrated ethnic cleanser."[33]
  • Israeli Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer described Srebrenica as "an act of mass murder, not a genocide" and stated that he could see no evidence that Serb forces intended, in whole or in part, to exterminate the Bosniaks.[34]
  • The director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Israel, Efraim Zuroff, also disagrees that Serb forces had genocidal intent. He explained: "As far as I know, what happened [in Srebrenica] does not [fit] the description or the definition of genocide. I think the decision to call it genocide was made for political reasons. Obviously a tragedy occurred, innocent people lost their lives and their memory should be preserved." Zuroff also called attempts to equate Srebrenica to the Holocaust "horrible" and "absurd", saying: "I wish the Nazis moved aside Jewish women and children before their bloody rampage, instead of murdering them, but that, as we know, did not happen."[35]

References

  1. ↑ In its ruling reported of here https://humanrightshouse.org/articles/serbia-not-guilty-of-genocide-2/
  2. ↑ In its ruling reported of here https://humanrightshouse.org/articles/serbia-not-guilty-of-genocide-2/
  3. ↑ Denial of genocide – on the possibility of normalising relations in the region by Sonja Biserko (the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia) and Edina Becirevic (faculty of criminology and security studies of the University of Sarajevo).
  4. ↑ ICTY: Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic Trial Chamber Judgment Case No. IT-02-60 Section II G Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic Archived 5 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ ICTY: Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic Trial Chamber Judgment Case No. IT-02-60 paragraph 382 Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic Archived 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ ICTY: Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic Trial Chamber Judgment Case No. IT-02-60 paragraph 383 Prosecutor v. Blagojevic and Jokic Archived 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. 1 2 Durnford, Laura "Bridges of Bone and Blood" Archived 6 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ The Scotsman "Finding the Bodies To Fill Bosnia's Graves" commentary by Adam Boys (ICMP) comment # 16.Adam Boys Commentary
  9. ↑ Wood, Peter "Pollen Helps War Crimes Forensics"
  10. ↑ Edward S. Herman; John Robles (11 July 2016). "The Srebrenica Massacre was a Gigantic Political Fraud". globalresearch.ca. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  11. ↑ The Politics of the Srebrenica Massacre, Z Net, 7 July 2007, by Edward S. Herman, zmag.org Archived 1 July 2009 at the Portuguese Web Archive
  12. ↑ "The real story behind Srebrenica", The Globe and Mail, 14 July 2005.
  13. ↑ ICTY, Prosecutor vs Krstic, Trial Chamber Judgement, Case No. IT-98-33-T, paras 43–46. UN.org
  14. ↑ Armatta, Judith (27 February 2003)."Milosevic's Propaganda War", Institute of War & Peace Reporting. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  15. ↑ "ICTY Indictment of Milosevic, clause 25, section g". United Nations. 5 March 2007. Archived from the original on 7 March 2004. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  16. ↑ Bennett, Christopher. "how yugoslavia's destroyers harnessed the media", Frontline. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  17. ↑ EXPERT REPORT OF RENAUD DE LA BROSSE "Political Propaganda and the Plan to Create 'A State For All Serbs:' Consequences of using media for ultra-nationalist ends", paragraph 74
  18. ↑ Tim Judah and Daniel Sunter (4 June 2005). "How video that put Serbia in dock was brought to light". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  19. ↑ Vulliamy, Ed (30 April 2005). "After the massacre, a homecoming". The Guardian. London.
  20. ↑ Sullivan, Stacy (5 July 2005). "The Wall of Denial". Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
  21. ↑ Lemarchand 2013, p. 10.
  22. ↑ "Srebrenica was not genocide: Bosnian Serb leader". Agence France-Presse. 27 April 2010. Archived from the original on 17 July 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
  23. ↑ Srebrenica massacre 'not genocide', The Sydney Morning Herald/Agence France-Presse, 13 July 2010
  24. ↑ Arslanagic, Sabina (3 December 2010). "Dodik Again Denies Srebrenica Genocide". Balkan Insight.
  25. ↑ "Serbian president denies Srebrenica genocide". The Guardian. London. 2 June 2012.
  26. ↑ "Srebrenica Research Group – Group members and mission". Srebrenica-report.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  27. ↑ Quoted in International Strategic Studies Association – Special Report Srebrenica Controversy Becomes Increasingly Politicized ISSA Special Report – Balkan Strategic Studies, 19 September 2003
  28. ↑ MacKenzie (ret'd) Archived 3 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine.. Jmss.org. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  29. ↑ "Balkan Witness – General Lewis MacKenzie". Glypx.com. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  30. ↑ "Rights group sues paper for Bosnia genocide denial". Associated Press. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2010.
  31. ↑ and includes UN former officials, journalists see http://srebrenica-deconstructed.com/people.htm.
  32. ↑ "Srebrenica And the Politics of War Crimes - conclusions". Srebrenica Research Group. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  33. ↑ Schabas, William (18 September 2000). Genocide in International Law: The Crime of Crimes. Cambridge University Press. pp. 175–200, 201. ISBN 0-521-78790-4. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  34. ↑ "Bauer: U Srebrenici je bilo masovno ubistvo, a ne genocide" [Srebrenica was Mass Murder, not Genocide] (in Serbian). RTRS. 29 June 2015.
  35. ↑ "Nazi hunter: Comparing Srebrenica and Holocaust is "absurd"". B92. 17 June 2015.

Bibliography

Herman, Edward S.; Peterson, David (2010). The Politics of Genocide. New York, NY: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 978-1-583-67213-6.

See also

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