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CoE urges Serbia to recognize Srebrenica genocide

16 May 2017 08:39 (UTC +04:00)

The Council of Europe has urged Serbia to recognize the massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica as genocide, APA reported citing DW.

The fact that Serbia apologized for the massacre committed in 1995 is not considered satisfactory by the Council of Europe.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) said on Tuesday that the Council of Europe calls on Serbia to officially recognize the Srebrenica massacre of 1995 as an act of genocide against Muslims. The Parliament and the President of Serbia apologized for what happened, but so far they have not clearly recognized the events as genocide, contrary to the conclusion reached by international courts.

In July 1995, just a few months before the end of the war in Bosnia, Bosnian-Serb forces kidnapped and killed about 8,000 Muslims. This massacre is considered the most horrendous war crime in Europe since the end of the Second World War.

In its statement, the Commission regretted the slow progress in capturing and prosecuting the perpetrators of this genocide and other war crimes motivated by racism. Recognition of this genocide fact and a transparent investigation into all cases of violence are absolutely necessary so that people from different ethnic groups will no longer live in fear of intimidation and of a new wave of violent crimes," the document stresses.

Since the end of the war in Bosnia, Serbia has refused to officially recognize the events in Srebrenica as genocide, contrary to the conclusion reached by the international judicial authorities.