IGK: January 9th is a reminder of the horrors of aggression and genocide

The International Expert Team of the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada (IGK) sent an open letter to the international and BiH public, the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council in BiH, and the newly elected BiH and Bosniak political establishment, calling on them to recognize, respect, and enforce the ruling of the International Court of Justice from 2007 against the entity of Republika Srpska for genocide.

The letter states that January 9th is a reminder of the horrors of aggression and genocide and the attempt to destroy the state of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- The foundations of the so-called entity Republika Srpska on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina were laid on mass graves of Bosniaks and the most monstrous crimes that today's civilized person can barely comprehend - the letter states.

It is added that today, RS, with its political representatives, "continues the idea of creating a Greater Serbia at the expense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, inheriting the idea of criminals who are being tried, or have already been convicted, for aggression, war crimes, and genocide."

The letter also assesses that the continuous denial of the crimes of aggression and genocide, the endangerment of basic human rights and freedoms of returnees, and the violent prohibition of remembrance for the victims and witnesses of aggression and genocide by the political establishment of RS, is a continuation of aggression and genocide in new circumstances and by other means, but with the exact same goal.

- We once again emphasize the right to the ius cogens principle (Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of the UN from 1969 - Chapter Nullity of Treaties) based on which the sacred right to not recognize the results of genocide, a crime that is not subject to statute of limitations, is derived in the legal practice of the world - the statement says.

The International Expert Team of IGK believes that an appeal should be immediately sent to the Constitutional Court of BiH with a recommendation to accept the recommendations of the Venice Commission and declare January ninth unconstitutional, harmful to the citizens and peoples in BiH, humiliating to hundreds of thousands of victims and witnesses of aggression and genocide, and unjust to all friends of truth and justice in the world, it was announced from IGK.