Deniers mock us daily and pack 'deadly products' in white gloves, presenting them as gifts

By: Murat Tahirović, President of the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are over 25,000 registered and active non-governmental organizations/associations, which should be a strong impetus for building a democratic civil society.

Is that the case?

I proudly state that the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, along with the Association of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa, the Association "16. April" Ahmići, and the Association "Women of Podrinje", bravely and uncompromisingly face difficult challenges, which is why we are exposed to continuous attacks and pressures in various spheres of life.

The challenges this year were almost identical to previous years: the so-called revised state strategy for prosecuting criminals in BiH has failed, we are entering the thirty-second year without an indictment for the siege of Sarajevo in BiH, without indictments for crimes against UN enclaves, without convictions for the international conflict-aggression of Serbia and Croatia against BiH, without convictions for the Joint Criminal Enterprise led by Milošević and Tuđman, without regional cooperation, meaning Serbia and Croatia are havens for war criminals, without convictions being registered in BiH records, without an indictment for denying crimes.

According to our judiciary in BiH, something completely different happened, and that "different" is the deception and lies that Belgrade and Zagreb have imposed on us in BiH. The most obvious example is the "Dobrovoljačka case," which is managed from Belgrade.

We do not pay attention to obstacles or others, because we have long had set goals: to always and everywhere prosecute war criminals, to fight against the denial and glorification of crimes and criminals, to strongly support the Hague Tribunal, to constantly focus on the so-called state strategy, or what remains of it, for the prosecution of criminals in BiH and the work, above all, of the BiH Prosecutor's Office, to protect and support victims, and to educate youth.

This year, our organizations, in achieving our set goals, organized meetings with the UN Secretary-General António Guterres and his associates, the heads of the Hague Tribunal, high representatives, other international representatives, as well as representatives of the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

The Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide and the Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa sent a letter of support to the UN Secretary-General for the resolution of the Palestinian issue.

We support the UN Secretary-General in his efforts to promote peace and truth in this long-standing conflict. His courage to highlight uncomfortable truths is crucial for progress towards peace and stability in the Middle East.

In cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, we organized the largest conference in Sarajevo to date on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Tribunal's work - it was the fifth international conference we organized jointly with representatives of the Court and Prosecutor's Office from The Hague.

In addition to all of the above, the Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa successfully contributed to the commemoration of July 11th - the genocide in Srebrenica this year, and the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, in cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and the Association of Victims "16. April" from Ahmići, helped organize the presentation of the book in the courtroom of the Hague Tribunal "Eight Days of Thirteen-Year-Old Adnan," by authors Thomas Obruča and Adnan Zec, as well as the holding and commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the crime committed in Ahmići.

The association from Ahmići did a huge and significant job this year. Together, we opposed the affirmation and glorification of crimes committed by war criminal Dario Kordić. In this regard, we initiated the adoption of an EU Parliament resolution which is still a "dead letter on paper." The Association "Women of Podrinje," in addition to all other activities, made an immeasurable contribution to the organization of the funeral for the victims of the genocide in Bratunac.

Our common goal - the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide and the Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa in 2023 was to analyze all the judgments of the ICTY that established the role of Serbia and Croatia in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in this regard, in a few days, we will publish a book titled "Serbia and Croatia in the International Armed Conflict in BiH".

We believe that the truth established by the judgments of the Hague Tribunal is the foundation for the fight against denial of crimes, finding opportunities for cooperation and affirmation of good neighborly and friendly relations, the foundation for the prosecution of war criminals, and primarily the foundation in the fight for truth and justice after the committed genocide in BiH.

In the past year, we had a series of meetings with the High Representative regarding January 9th and issues of victim protection. We insist on sanctions against those who celebrate it and always quote the conclusions of the Hague court found in final judgments: "The proclamation of the Serb Republic by the Assembly of Bosnian Serbs in January 1992 was a confirmation of the territorial goals and ideology of the Bosnian Serb leadership, which sought to create a separate Serb state. Slobodan Milošević, with the leadership of Bosnian Serbs, carried out the Joint Criminal Enterprise with the aim of creating a separate Serb state."

The legacy of the Hague Tribunal is precisely a protective tool against all attempts at denial, affirmation, and glorification of crimes and criminals, relativization, and historical revisionism. Everything we have achieved in the Hague Tribunal through convictions for genocide, aggression, JCE, crimes against Bosniak women as crimes against humanity.

Now, our very existence is being denied, and attempts are being made through the judiciary, not only to equate the "sides" but to introduce a judicial narrative that the government and organs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina are responsible for the war and crimes in BiH. This is about great-power denial of everything and the introduction of a narrative about the responsibility of the organs and individuals of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Another type of denier tries to trivialize the legacy of the Tribunal and our Bosnian contribution to the results of the Hague court.

Hannah Arendt said: "This constant lying is not aimed at making people believe the lie, but at making them believe in nothing. Such a people has not lost the capacity to act, but the capacity to think and judge. You can do whatever you want with such a people."

Unfortunately, deniers are given public space to operate, especially in Sarajevo.

Deborah Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies, refused to participate in an American TV debate about the Holocaust because two Holocaust deniers were invited. She told the TV editor: "You are also a Holocaust denier, because you invited deniers to spread lies about the Holocaust."

I personally read aloud dozens of names of snipers who killed people in Sarajevo and who were sent from The Hague to be prosecuted in BiH.

Where are those cases?

I think all prosecutors who are working bear historical responsibility, not just the chief prosecutors of the BiH Prosecutor's Office.

We will soon release the names of prosecutors since the establishment of the BiH Prosecutor's Office. There are exceptions who work honorably and professionally, but they are very few. The public must know who these people are who can sit for decades and receive a salary, and not be interested in the siege of Sarajevo.

As long as we know nothing about Douglas Stringer, the prosecutor who proved two JCEs - the Serbian "Stanišić - Simatović" and the Croatian "Prlić and others," and we know local and international deniers and impostors, our fight for truth, justice, and the legacy of the Tribunal is uncertain.

The fight for the legacy of the Hague Tribunal is a fight against deniers, but especially against those who lie and deceive the BiH public. Therefore, "Stringers" and many representatives of the Hague Tribunal should be the personification of our fight against all deniers. There are no such heroes in our public life, and we know almost nothing about them and their heroic deeds, but instead, we watch deniers every day who mock and grimace at us or pack us "deadly products" in white gloves, presenting them as gifts.

We, as a nation, must familiarize ourselves with and value the legacy of the Hague Tribunal as soon as possible, because otherwise, the deniers will be victorious, and we face a great danger of the crime being repeated. (Pro)Bosnian politicians seem ashamed to talk about the achievements and judgments of the Hague court, which is why we have decided to gather all the most important conclusions about the nature of the conflict/aggression against BiH in one place and publish it as a book immediately after the New Year.

In 2023, the Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide published research on attacks against returnees in the entity of Rs in the period from 1996 to June 2022. From our research, it is clear from the evidence provided by the prosecutor's offices from Rs that not a single murder has been prosecuted, nor has any attack on returnees received a judicial epilogue.

Therefore, we believe that last year's terrorist attack on returnees Fadil and Ajša Memišević from the village of Omeragići, Višegrad municipality, is just another proof that the UN, in accordance with the 2007 Action Plan on Genocide Prevention, must act in BiH, even militarily.

In a country where two state strategies for prosecuting criminals have been systematically thwarted, where not a single terrorist for the murder of 15 returnees has been identified, nor for over a thousand terrorist attacks on returnees, and where the prosecutor's office publicly announces that it is not competent in prosecuting deniers of genocide and court judgments, the terrorist attack on returnees Fadil and Ajša Memišević was further proof that the aforementioned policies are in place to prepare for a potential attack that could result in a new crime in BiH.

Last year, we also reported to the UN on the problems of attacks on returnees and victims and the non-prosecution of those most responsible for the committed crime in BiH. And as long as the aforementioned challenges do not become the challenges of all of us in BiH, I am not optimistic that we will succeed in effectively and quickly resolving the accumulated problems.

At the conference "Living Force of World Society: The Legacy of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide," held on December 8, 2023, at UN headquarters in New York, as an official event marking the 75th anniversary of the Genocide Convention and the International Day of Remembrance and Dignity of Victims of the Crime of Genocide, the names of the UN's "Raphael Lemkin - Prevention Champions 2023" were announced, among whom was the Association Movement of Mothers of the Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa. Of course, we are proud of this well-deserved recognition for the mothers for their unprecedented struggle for truth and justice.

The past year brought us a verdict against a duo from the very top of Serbia's state security. Perhaps we do not yet know what it means in the international framework, perhaps we ourselves fear the power of that verdict. But what I do know and what I am proud of us Bosnians and Herzegovinians for is that with our knowledge and, of course, legal facts, we have achieved what no one ever has and likely never will.

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