Democratic Front: RS Government is trying to ‘internationalise’ genocide denial

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Bosnia’s left-leaning Democratic Front said on Thursday it supports the request of families of genocide victims for certain countries to comment on the participation of some of their citizens in new commissions Bosnian Serb authorities formed which are to investigate what happened during the war in Srebrenica and Sarajevo.

Authorities of Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska (RS), plan to form commissions that would be dealing with the suffering of the Serbs in Sarajevo and suffering of all peoples in the eastern town of Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

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The RS Government said it discussed on Thursday the appointment of the commission's members who will be tasked with “reconciling these and future generations.”

“These two commissions will be dealing with the suffering of peoples in the Srebrenica region and in Sarajevo, in the period 1992-95. This is a very delicate and difficult issue, and I'd like to say that this considers piety for all victims but also collecting of all relevant data regarding the horrors of the past war we all had experienced,” said RS Justice Minister Anton Kasipovic, addressing a press conference after the RS Government session.

Opponents see the move as an attempt to question the rulings of two international courts which already established what happened.

“We believe that it is necessary to ask those countries to comment, considering that there is an intention to deny the legally established facts which a court that was established by the UN confirmed,” the Democratic Front said.Raphael Israeli

The party said it considers the forming of the commissions a political attempt by the RS Government to “internationalise” the denial of the genocide and to “completely change the character of the armed conflict.