Mektić: I do not diminish the crime in Srebrenica, I respect the verdict of the international court

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - I do not deny the crime, I do not diminish the crime, I respect the verdict of the international court. 

This was stated by the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and high-ranking SDS member Dragan Mektić when asked whether genocide occurred in Srebrenica.

"Of course, there is that decision of the International Court in The Hague, and more or less there are people who do not accept it and distort it. We are in a hurry to put some things in their place. A certain time distance needs to pass, and history will sort out many things about that," Mektić told N1 television on Tuesday.

During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbian forces killed more than 8,000 Bosniaks in July 1995, and the International Court in The Hague characterized that crime as genocide, sentencing the first president of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, Radovan Karadžić, to life imprisonment. 

For the genocide in Srebrenica, the commander of the RS Army, Ratko Mladić, was also convicted, as well as other political officials and members of the RS army and police.

The authorities in Republika Srpska, led by Milorad Dodik's SNSD, deny the verdicts of the International Court in The Hague, while Dodik called the Srebrenica genocide a Bosniak myth.

Several countries around the world have adopted resolutions in their parliaments in respect of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, while a resolution on Srebrenica is also being prepared for adoption by the European Parliament.

Dragan Mektić stated in one of his earlier interviews for Večernji list that Serbs must experience catharsis, admit the genocide, and renounce those who committed crimes, but under pressure from political opponents, he retracted that statement, reports the Patria agency.

On Thursday, July 11, the 24th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica will be marked, when 33 victims will be buried. Families are still searching for the remains of about 1,000 killed Bosniaks from the Srebrenica region.