Serbian president calls for punishment of Srebrenica culprits
Serbia’s president today called for the punishment of all responsible for the Srebrenica massacre – the worst carnage in Europe since the Second World War.
“A crime is a crime, wherever it is committed,” President Boris Tadic said in a statement on the 11th anniversary of the massacre of some 8,000 Srebrenica Muslims by Bosnian Serb troops during Bosnia’s war.
“Those responsible for war crimes must face justice and be punished,” Tadic said. “That must happen because it could burden future generations” and relations between Serbia and Bosnia.
Serbia’s pro-democracy leader did not mention the suspected mastermind of the Srebrenica massacre, wartime Bosnian Serb army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is believed to be hiding in Serbia.
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1995 indicted Mladic for genocide in the Srebrenica killings.
Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ivana Dulic-Markovic reiterated the president’s comments today, saying in a statement that the massacre was “a crime that must not be forgotten,” and that all responsible must be brought to justice.
“Srebrenica lies on the conscience of the entire mankind,” Dulic-Markovic said. “Remembrance of Srebrenica, of the dark past, must be a warning that we never allow such a crime to happen again.”
Tadic again criticised The Hague court for giving a two-year prison term to Muslim wartime Srebrenica commander Naser Oric, saying the sentence was too light for the man Serbs blame for some of the worst atrocities of the Bosnian war.
“The Hague tribunal must have the same criteria” for all war criminals, no matter their nationality, Tadic said in the statement.
Oric earlier this month was convicted of failing to prevent the torture and killing of Serb prisoners in the eastern Bosnian enclave. But the UN court decided he was not directly involved.
Oric, who spent three years in the custody of the UN court, was immediately released for time served.
Separately, a group of activists were shouted at and insulted in the southern city of Nis while marking the Srebrenica anniversary, authorities said. No major violence was reported. Police have detained several people, according to the Beta news agency.
