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SREBRENICA 'NOT GENOCIDE' - SERBIA'S PRESIDENT NIKOLIC
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18301196
1 June 2012 Last updated at 16:02 GMT
The Srebrenica victims' remains were found in mass graves years after
the war
Serbia's new president, Tomislav Nikolic, has said the Srebrenica
massacre of 1995 was not genocide.
"There was no genocide in Srebrenica," he told Montenegrin state
television, but said that "grave war crimes" were committed.
The massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces
in 1995 has been recognised as genocide by the UN war crimes tribunal
in The Hague and the International Court of Justice.
He took office in Serbia on Thursday.
"In Srebrenica, grave war crimes were committed by some Serbs, who
should be found, prosecuted and punished," said Mr Nikolic, widely
seen as a nationalist.
The Srebrenica crime figures in the genocide charges levelled against
Gen Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb wartime commander, and his wartime
political chief Radovan Karadzic, both on trial at the war crimes
court in The Hague.
"It is very difficult to indict someone and to prove before a court
that an event qualifies as a genocide," Mr Nikolic said, without
referring to the international court rulings.
The massacre happened just days after Bosnian Serb troops led by Gen
Mladic overran the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica.
Mr Nikolic's predecessor as president, Boris Tadic, apologised to
relatives of Srebrenica's victims in 2005 and attended memorial
ceremonies there.
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18301196
1 June 2012 Last updated at 16:02 GMT
The Srebrenica victims' remains were found in mass graves years after
the war
Serbia's new president, Tomislav Nikolic, has said the Srebrenica
massacre of 1995 was not genocide.
"There was no genocide in Srebrenica," he told Montenegrin state
television, but said that "grave war crimes" were committed.
The massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces
in 1995 has been recognised as genocide by the UN war crimes tribunal
in The Hague and the International Court of Justice.
He took office in Serbia on Thursday.
"In Srebrenica, grave war crimes were committed by some Serbs, who
should be found, prosecuted and punished," said Mr Nikolic, widely
seen as a nationalist.
The Srebrenica crime figures in the genocide charges levelled against
Gen Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb wartime commander, and his wartime
political chief Radovan Karadzic, both on trial at the war crimes
court in The Hague.
"It is very difficult to indict someone and to prove before a court
that an event qualifies as a genocide," Mr Nikolic said, without
referring to the international court rulings.
The massacre happened just days after Bosnian Serb troops led by Gen
Mladic overran the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica.
Mr Nikolic's predecessor as president, Boris Tadic, apologised to
relatives of Srebrenica's victims in 2005 and attended memorial
ceremonies there.