GENOCIDE DENIAL BANNED IN BOSNIA \u2013 Oh what a tangled web we weave\u2026(when first we practice to deceive)<\/b><\/p>\n
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In July 2021 the international body overseeing the peace plan for Bosnia decided to outlaw genocide denial. The Office of the the High Representative (OHR ) announced\u00a0changes to Bosnia\u2019s criminal code that now impose prison sentences of up to 5 years for genocide denial and the glorification of war criminals.<\/p>\n
Valentin Inzko, the outgoing head of the OHR, claimed he was countering attempts by Bosnia\u2019s Serbs to deny the scope of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica.<\/p>\n
His justification stated:<\/p>\n
\u201cHate speech, the glorification of war criminals, revisionism or outright denial of genocide and war crimes prevent societies from dealing with their collective past, constitute renewed humiliation of the victims and\u00a0\u00a0their loved ones, while also perpetuating injustice and undermining inter ethnic relationships. All of this causes frustrations, makes the society chronically ill, and prevents the emergence of desperately needed reconciliation.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
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He said he decided to use his powers after waiting for years for Bosnia\u2019s politicians to act and cited a refusal by the Bosnian Serb assembly to withdraw decorations awarded to three convicted war criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation has gotten worse and is now getting out of hand,\u201d Mr Inzko declared, warning that lack of acknowledgment was \u201csowing the seeds\u201d for new conflicts. \u201cTherefore, I believe that it is now necessary to regulate this matter with legal solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The real danger is that these \u2018legal solutions\u2019 are most likely to create more problems and further impede genuine progress.\u00a0\u00a0To criminalise honest and well founded differences of opinion by seeking to impose a literally incredible and unsustainable version of history is hardly a recipe for happier days.<\/p>\n
That said, freedom of speech and expression –\u00a0\u00a0universally\u00a0regarded as fundamental human rights – have never been absolute. They have always included a duty to behave responsibly and respect the rights of others without, for example, encouraging racial or religious hatred. Article 10 of\u00a0\u00a0the Human Rights Act enables public authorities to restrict free speech if they can show that their action is lawful, necessary and proportionate – i.e. no more than necessary to address the issue concerned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The grounds for restriction are commonly:<\/p>\n Limits on freedom of speech have always been accepted in such clearly defined circumstances. But to apply them in the case of Bosnia is not only provocative and counterproductive but utterly\u00a0perverse.\u00a0That free speech \u2013 the foundation of democracy \u2013 should be sacrificed to uphold the sham findings of a rigged court such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, is itself a travesty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This was an illegal court, an entirely political construct created, funded and staffed by the US. A court that convicted on hearsay evidence, withheld primary evidence even from its own prosecutors, had no independent appeals process and refused point blank to try NATO war crimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The real offence in these circumstances is to criminalise anyone with the common sense to dispute its genocide verdicts and deprive them of free speech. There have always been situations in which freedom of speech can justifiably be qualified but this is demonstrably not one of them.<\/p>\n In\u00a0the early 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century US Supreme Court judge Oliver Wendell Holmes famously asserted:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic \u2026 The question in every case is whether the words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.\u201d(\u00a0<\/i>Schenck v. United States<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in 1919<\/i>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He later amended his clear and present danger wording to read \u201can incitement to imminent lawless action\u201d\u00a0\u00a0– essentially the test that still applies to this day. The question therefore with regard to genocide denial in Bosnia is whether the denial itself is used in such circumstances and is of such a nature as to constitute an incitement to imminent lawless action. The context is crucial and all important.\u00a0\u00a0Bosnian Serbs do not deny a terrible crime against humanity or an appalling massacre. What they deny is that this crime was justly proven by a properly constituted court to be genocide as defined by the international community I.e. the\u00a0\u201cintent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such\u201d.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n The evidence for the deaths of an alleged 8,000 Muslim men has never been produced. Both sides in the conflict at the time agreed there was a total death toll of around 2000, overwhelmingly as a result military engagements.\u00a0The fact that Serb commander General Ratko Mladic arranged for Muslim women and children to be bused to safety from Srebrenica to Tuzla is hard to reconcile\u00a0with genocidal intent.<\/p>\n To deny genocide at Srebrenica is not an incitement to imminent lawless action \u2013 quite the contrary, it Is an appeal for truth and justice to prevail. What \u2018sows the seeds of discord\u2019 in Bosnian society and prevents healing and reconciliation is perceived injustice and the clear determination to perpetuate it. \u00a0If there is nothing to hide there is nothing to fear from ongoing academic and historic research.<\/p>\n Using the law to\u00a0criminalise genocide denial in these circumstances is plainly a cynical attempt to shut down any further research or inquiry into the events of the Balkan conflicts. Branding as heretics all who dare to question an authorised version of events is a vengeful medieval approach unworthy of a modern civilised society. What is making Bosnian society \u2018chronically ill\u2019 is precisely the denial of the right to pursue the truth and speak it.\u00a0\u00a0This is infinitely more damaging to the social fabric than anything that can be laid at the door of so called \u2018genocide deniers.\u2019<\/p>\n\n