Former Hague Tribunal prosecutor Geoffrey Nice, one of the leading lawyers in Great Britain, commented for "Avaz" on the decision of the High Representative in B&H Valentin Inzko to ban the denial of genocide in this country.
- It is unfortunate that Inzko's action comes so late. Justifications he gives like: "Deeply concerned that prominent individuals and the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to deny that acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed during the armed conflict" ..., "individuals and public authorities are publicly questioning the legitimacy of International Criminal Court verdicts of the Court of Former Yugoslavia and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and these individuals and public authorities respect or praise convicted war criminals ", have been obvious for a long time, even to an outsider like me. It is as if Inzko finally understands - although he should have learned it a long time ago - that Bosnian Muslims always fail to write their own history, expecting or hoping that others will do it for them, allowing Serbia to do it for them - Nice said.
He points out that there has been a failure to react in the past, "for example by revising the judgment of the International Court of Justice from 2007 or in other positive ways", which left "a permanently open goal for Serbia to push through narratives".
As he says, B&H, unfortunately, cannot fight against the latest sad reports about the genocide in Srebrenica, but, in spite of that, there is evidence of the International Criminal Court on its side, which determined exactly what happened in Srebrenica.
- Can criminalizing the denial of genocide, as Inzko allows, help a little, no matter how late? Maybe. Dr. Nevenka Tromp, I know, who is less of an outsider than me and can talk to many more authorities, regularly warns the Bosnian people of the legacy they leave to their descendants by failing to move in indisputable form that there was no excuse - none - for any murder in Srebrenica from Serbs. In fact, they never claim the right - Nice pointed out.
He added that he had no right to express opinions on Bosnia's internal activities.
- As an outsider, I can convey the message that the world cares about Bosnia, but not so much anymore. There are many other tragedies and massive human rights violations that decent world citizens could take care of if they want to. The war in Bosnia is history and largely forgotten. Gone are the days when Bosnia could and should have acted to preserve its honor by posting an accurate record of what happened. Too bad. Inzko's last-minute action may be to leave a personal legacy, of which only he can be proud of or perhaps it's truly genuine. It is better than nothing and may prevent some of the worst Serbian revisionisms. More importantly, it might force Bosnian Muslims to continue to take care of themselves and their children and their children's children by establishing a database and completely insurmountable records of Serb guilt for what Serbia and Bosnian Serbs did in Srebrenica and elsewhere. I hope that happens. But I can't be full of hope - Nice concluded.
