Potočari Memorial Center asks the BiH Prosecutor's Office to open an investigation into 'columns of hate'

Regarding yesterday's incident in Potočari, when in the late afternoon hours a column of vehicles accompanied by loud music and nationalist iconography passed along the local road that runs between the sacred and memorial parts of the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center complex, this institution stated that this area must be protected, and that the local community must assume part of the responsibility for "cherishing the celebration of the crime of genocide.

"The Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center warns that the local community has once again failed to condemn hate speech and the spread of nationalist hysteria. For years, Orthodox religious holidays have been used as an opportunity for the public celebration of the crime of genocide and its perpetrators, thereby jeopardizing any chance for confronting the past and interreligious dialogue in Srebrenica," the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center stated.

The Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center will respond to any attempt to deny genocide, express hatred and intolerance with even more significant work on dialogue, research and inclusion of new generations in education programs about genocide. 

"Court verdicts, thousands of names of innocently killed and missing persons, and broad international recognition of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, have never been a tool of manipulation, nor a basis for spreading hatred
against any people or religious community. Moreover, the lessons from Srebrenica should be the foundation for preventing future bloodshed in these areas and elsewhere. The Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center calls on the Mayor of the Srebrenica Municipality and the entire local community to find the strength to change their attitude, and finally condemn hate speech and request from the local police to take the necessary measures to bring to justice and punish those responsible. Finally, we will ask the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina to react, and investigate the direct and indirect links between decision-makers in institutions and the financing of activities of associations and informal groups that organize 'columns of hate' in Srebrenica," the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center concluded.