AP: Bosnian Serb wrongly called Srebrenica massacre a "myth"

(Patria) - The Bosnian Serb leader wrongly called the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by the Bosnian Serb army, a "fabricated
myth", AP writes, adding that Dodik's comments deny the international court's verdict on the genocide committed in the eastern Bosnian enclave, reports Patria agency.

The International Court of Justice and the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague have issued verdicts recognizing the killings in Srebrenica as genocide. AP reminds that "Bosnian Serb war leaders Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić were sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes during the 1992-1995 war, in which more than 100,000 people were killed and millions were left homeless".

However, Milorad Dodik, who now heads the multi-ethnic joint Presidency of BiH, addressed a gathering on war crimes during the conflict in BiH, saying that the Srebrenica massacre is "something that does not exist", AP writes.

"Bosnian Muslims did not have a myth, so they decided to create one from Srebrenica," AP quotes Dodik's address on Friday.

This media further explains that "Dodik persistently downplays the significance of the Srebrenica massacre, as do other Serb politicians and officials from neighboring Serbia, who deny that it was committed at all, and have announced a special commission to determine the 'truth about Srebrenica'".

AP also states that Dodik's comments have drawn condemnation from Bosnian Muslims, quoting Ramiz Salkić, the Vice President of Republika Srpska, who said that "Srebrenica is a judicially confirmed fact" and that these are historical facts, not a myth.

AP concludes that "the Srebrenica massacre was one of the bloodiest massacres in Europe since World War II. Around 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, and their bodies were dumped in numerous mass graves after Bosnian Serb forces captured Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.".

"More than 6,600 Srebrenica victims have been identified, but experts are still excavating the bodies of victims from hidden mass graves. Experts use DNA analysis to identify victims based on remains found at various remote locations after the perpetrators tried to hide their war crimes," AP concludes.