ZAGREB, 19 July 2022 - The Croatian Embassy in Germany has strongly condemned the accusation by the youth organization of the German Greens party that, apart from Serbia, Croatia was also responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

Commenting on the tweet by the Green Youth marking the 27th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, in which Croatia was named as being responsible for the genocide of Bosniaks in Srebrenica, "we condemn in the strongest terms such revisionist accusations," the Croatian Embassy said on Twitter on Monday.

The youth organization of the Greens party, which is a member of the three-party ruling coalition, posted the tweet last week and has not removed it despite numerous warnings in the comments that it is falsifying history.

"Twenty-seven years ago today, over 8,000 people were killed in Srebrenica within a space of several days. That was part of the genocide of Bosniaks committed by Serbia and Croatia," the Green Youth said in the tweet.

The Croatian Embassy said that such untruths "are completely unacceptable and require an apology for such fake news."

11 July marks the anniversary of the single largest atrocity committed on European soil after the Second World War when Bosnian Serb forces massacred over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in the UN-protected area of Srebrenica in 1995.

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ZAGREB, 8 Dec, 2021 - Organisations of the families of Srebrenica genocide victims sent an open letter to Croatian President Zoran Milanović on Wednesday calling on him to respect the decisions of his own country, whose institutions have explicitly condemned the genocide of Bosnian Muslims committed by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.

The association "Mothers from the Srebrenica and Žepa enclaves" and the Association of Genocide Victims and Witnesses said in the letter that in his recent statements Milanović had denied that the massacre of Bosniaks at Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia, was an act of genocide despite the fact that it was declared so by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), whose establishment and work was supported by Croatia.

"To our knowledge, Croatia still supports this court. It has never withdrawn its consent to cooperate with this court," the two organisations noted after Milanović said on Tuesday he did not consider court judgments as something that could not be questioned.

"No court judgment can be the Holy Scripture. ... 5,000 or 8,000  or 80,000 people is not the same. It's not the same whether it happens in gas chambers or whether it happens with machetes," Milanović said.

The two organisations noted that the International Court of Justice had also found the Srebrenica massacre to be an act of genocide and that the Srebrenica genocide had been condemned by a Croatian Parliament resolution.

"If you do not respect others, at least respect the decisions of the country that you represent," the letter said in conclusion.

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ZAGREB, 11 July, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković says in his message on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of the Srebrenica tragedy that the insane atrocities committed in Srebrenica amounted to the defeat of humanity and that Croatians are in their thoughts with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On Sunday Plenković wrote on his Twitter account that today "the tribute is being paid to thousands of innocent Bosniak victims who will never be forgotten."

The killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak civilians, men and boys in Srebrenica 26 years ago when that eastern Bosnian enclave fell into the hands of the Serb force was described by the Croatian Prime Minister as "insane crime " which amounted to the defeat of humanity.

During this year's commemorative events, remains of 19 Srebrenica victims will be buried in the Potočari memorial centre. The youngest victims unearthed from mass graves are Azmir Osmanovć, who was a 16-year-old boy when he was killed, and 17-year-old Fikret Kiverić.  Also the remains of 24-year-old girl will be buried today.

So far, the funeral rites have been organised at the Potočari centre for 6,652 victims who were exhumed after the war from mass graves or from unmarked individual graves.

The families of another 237 victims buried their dearest ones in other cemeteries after the identification of the remains.

Also, the remains of 88 victims not yet identified are in the ossuary in Tuzla. In several cases, the agreement has not been obtained from families for burials as long as only parts of the bodies of their dearest ones are exhumed and identified. Those families wait for the discovery of the all the remains of those victims.

Since early Sunday morning, hundreds of mourners started flocking Srebrenica and Potočari.

To date, 48 sentenced for Srebrenica genocide to a total of over 700 years

International courts and local courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia have to date sentenced 48 wartime officials and military and police officers of Bosnia Serb to a total of more than 700 years

Five high-profile convicts have been given life sentences for genocide and crimes against humanity committed in July 1995 in Srebrenica. The wartime political and military leaders Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić were tried for charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Srebrenica, Prijedor, Ključ, and other districts of Bosnia, and these two masterminds of the Srebrenica tragedy have been sentenced to life in prison by the UN tribunal ICTY.

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ZAGREB, 10 July 2021 - It is the shared duty of the entire civilised world to remember the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica and not to allow attempts at rewriting history to diminish that crime, senior EU officials said in a joint statement on Saturday.

In a joint statement issued ahead of the 26th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, in which Bosnian Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Bosniaks in July 1995, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi said it was a duty to forever remember that tragedy.

"On Sunday, 19 more victims will be laid to rest. We honour their memory, and of all victims and those still missing. We share the grief of their families and of those who survived, whose lives have been impacted forever," the two EU officials said.

They noted that Europe has not forgotten its own responsibility for not being able to prevent the Srebrenica genocide, one of the worst crimes in Europe’s modern history.

"Srebrenica painfully reminds us all of the need to stand up firmly and decisively for peace, human dignity and all the values which underpin our Union. Serving justice and building a better society are the best ways of remembering those who were systematically and deliberately murdered. This is a necessary step to work for a better common future for all Europeans.

"There can be no impunity. Genocide is genocide, be it in Srebrenica or elsewhere. International courts, domestic courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the neighbouring countries need to continue providing justice for all victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, as well as for their family members. Peace can only be built upon justice," the joint statement said.

Political leaders in the Western Balkans were called upon to lead by example in acknowledging what happened, honouring the victims and genuinely promoting reconciliation by confronting the roots of hatred that led to the genocide.

"There is no place in Europe for genocide denial, revisionism and glorification of war criminals, which contradict the most fundamental European values. Attempts to rewrite history are unacceptable," the EU officials said, alluding to Bosnian Serb officials who persistently deny that the genocide was committed in Srebrenica.

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ZAGREB, 8 June, 2021 - Wartime Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladić was on Tuesday given a final verdict of life in prison for war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The information was conveyed to reporters in The Hague by Murat Tahirović, president of the BiH Association of Genocide Victims and Witnesses.

Tahirović was able to follow the announcement of the verdict in real time while reporters and most of the other audience followed it with a delay and without access to the courtroom.

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ZAGREB, July 11, 2020 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Saturday that the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, which he described as one of the worst atrocities committed in Europe after the Second World War, should and would never be forgotten.

"A quarter of the century has passed since one of the most heinous atrocities on European soil after the World War Two, was committed in Srebrenica. It is with deepest respect that we commemorate today more than 8,000 Bosniak men, boys and civilians killed in Srebrenica and we also show our deep sympathies to their families and dearest ones. The victims of Srebrenica must not and will not ever be forgotten," Plenkovic wrote in a press release issued on the occasion of commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the eastern Bosnian enclave into the hands of the Serb forces.

The genocidal character of the crimes committed in Srebrenica was confirmed by verdicts handed down by the UN court for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) against wartime Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

The atrocities perpetrated in Srebrenica are a tragic and undeniable fact which serves as admonition. Plenkovic went on to say that "all of us must be committed to the efforts aimed at establishing and promoting the truth about Srebrenica."

Being a friendly neighbour of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia will always help that country in its endeavours to build a brighter future as a state of three equal constituent peoples, Plenkovic said, reiterating Zagreb's commitment to help Bosnia and Herzegovina on its journey towards its European Union membership. 

ZAGREB, July 11, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković opened Thursday's cabinet meeting by expressing his condolences for the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.

"Today is the 24th anniversary of a great tragedy, one of the worst atrocities following World War II. In 1995 more than 8,000 men and youths were killed in Srebrenica," said Plenković.

He added that the government had sent an envoy to two commemorations of that tragedy, one to the Croatian parliament and the other to the Islamic centre in Zagreb.

"We want to express our condolences for the victims of that horrific crime," Plenković underscored and recalled that that "crime has been qualified as genocide by the international tribunal's conviction."

Participants and speakers at the central commemoration held in Srebrenica on Thursday to mark the 24th anniversary of the genocide committed by Bosnian Serb army and police forces against local Bosniaks urged the international community to take all the necessary steps to counter more and more aggressive attempts aimed at revising the history and denying the genocidal character of the war crimes in that eastern Bosnian enclave in the summer 1995.

Thousands of people arrived today in Srebrenica to attend the central commemoration in the Potočari memorial centre in tribute to victims of the genocide committed in July 1995 when Srebrenica which was at the time a U.N. safe haven, fell into the hands of the Serb forces.

One of the few survivors of the mass-scale executions of Bosniak men and boys, Nedžad Avdić, who was 17 when he was captured and taken to an execution site in July 1995, today held a speech in which he recalled how the forces that raided Srebrenica had a well-organised system for the execution of local inhabitants.

"Many say that the past should be forgotten and that we should look to the future. I can say that for some, Srebrenica belongs to the past, but for us it is our life," said Avdić underscoring that those who survived the Srebrenica genocide had hoped that the Dayton peace accords would improve the situation.

However, it has turned out to be an illusion, and the victims of that genocide are still suffering, while Srebrenica is left to those who even today deny genocide and glorify war crimes, Avdić said.

He underscored that the perpetration of the genocide is continuing in Srebrenica through more subtle methods, primarily through the education system.

We are denied the right to have our own language, culture, past, heritage, identity and existence in this area, Avdić said.

Statistics show that of the 8,372 persons registered as missing after the fall of Srebrenica, the remains of 7,119 victims have been found and exhumed. Another 102 bodies have been found but not identified.

The remains of 33 victims of that genocide were buried in the Potočari memorial centre today.

The president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Judge Carmel Agius, who attended today's commemoration, extended condolences to the families of those killed in 1995.

It was established beyond any reasonable doubt that the genocide was planned and committed, and more than 8,000 man and youths were killed and buried in mass graves, Judge Agius said.

Bosniak member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency, Šefik Džaferović said that the goal of the crimes committed in Srebrenica was to erase all traces of the existence of a people.

The fact that genocide was committed in Srebrenica in the summer of 1995 has been proved by rulings delivered by international and local courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia, which have to date sentenced 47 people for ordering or committing war crimes in that eastern Bosnian enclave.

On 26 February 2007, the ICJ, the highest judicial body of the United Nations, ruled that the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Bosniak Muslims in Srebrenica constituted genocide, but that Serbia was not responsible for the mass killings. However, the ICJ found Belgrade responsible for violating the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, and defined the Bosnian Serb army and police as the perpetrators of the genocide.

In mid-July every year, commemorations are organised in Bosnia and Herzegovina to pay tribute to the victims of that worst atrocity on European soil since the end of WWII.

In Croatia, commemorative marches and other events in memory of the Srebrenica victims were held in several cities this week.

More news about the Srebrenica genocide can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 24, 2018 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Monday sent his condolences to the Mothers of Srebrenica civil society organisation on the occasion of the death of the organisation's president Hatidža Mehmedović, the symbol of Srebrenica mothers and women who dedicated her life in looking for the truth and a just punishment for the perpetrators of the Srebrenica atrocity.

ZAGREB, July 6, 2018 - The Croatian Parliament on Friday marked the 23rd anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosnian Serb forces under Ratko Mladić massacred over 8,500 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys in July 1995.

The President’s recent statements have caused protests from the neighbouring country.