RADOVAN KARADZIC AND SREBRENICA GENOCIDE

Radovan Karadzic, quote:

"THESE PEOPLE WILL DISAPPEAR FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH"

Photo caption: Remains of Srebrenica genocide victim, with hand tied, and burnt book of Qur'an. Republished from New York basedBosniak-American magazine Bosnjaci.net - Photo republished for fair use only.

In 2000, Radovan Karadzic has been ordered by a U.S. jury to pay $4.5 billion in damages for atrocities committed by his soldiers. The only problem - he was on the run. The U.S. Government placed $5 million bounty on his head.

Radovan Karadzic -- former Bosnian Serb leader, long-time fugitive from international justice, and mastermind of Srebrenica genocide -- made his genocidal intentions public long before he executed them [source].

On October 12th 1991 he stated: "They [Bosniaks] will disappear, these people will disappear from the face of the earth"

A mere day later, on 13 October 1991, Karadzic, talking to Momcilo Mandic, said: "Within a few days there will be no Sarajevo, and there will be over 500,000 dead; within a month the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina will be destroyed!"

Again, on 15 October 1991, Karadzic foresees the extermination of the Muslims in the event of war. Talking to Miodrag Davidovic and his own brother Luka, Karadzic said: "In the first instance, none of their leaders will remain alive, they will be killed within 3 or 4 hours. They will have no chance of surviving."

Although Radovan Karadzic failed to exterminate "Muslims of Bosnia", he succeeded in committing genocide in Srebrenica. As a side note and in response to questions about Bosnian Genocide, it is important to note that European Court of Human Rights recently upheld 1997 Bosnian Genocide judgment against Nikola Jorgic, as we reported in this article.

Miroslav Deronjic, a former Bosnian Serb politician who has pleaded guilty to war crimes, said he met Radovan Karadzic in early July 1995, shortly before Serbs attacked the United Nations-declared ''safe area'' of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia.

''At one moment, he said the following sentence to me, "Miroslav, all of them need to be killed -- whatever you can lay your hands on, '' Mr.Deronjic told a pre-appeal hearing for a former Bosnian Serb general, Radislav Krstic.

At the end of the war, Karadzic realized that his attempts to make "Muslims of Bosnia" disappear failed, so he focused on Srebrenica - lightly protected United Nations' enclave in eastern Bosnia. In March 1995, Radovan Karadzic, then President of Republika Srpska, issued a directive to the Bosnian Serb Army - known as “Directive 7” - which specified that the Bosnian Serb Army was to:

Complete the physical separation of Srebrenica from Zepa as soon as possible, preventing even communication between individuals in the two enclaves. By planned and well-thought out combat operations, create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica.

And yet, in light of Radovan Karadzic's own words and intentions - there are still those who defend Radovan Karadzic's actions and exercise denial of Srebrenica genocide under the cover of free speech.

As a matter of the fact, Srebrenica genocide is one of the most extensively documented genocides in the history and comprises of millions of pieces of evidence (including court documents, eye witness and survivor testimonies, physical remains of victims, DNA evidence, numerous mass graves etc). Of course we have all heard of those who reduced themselves to Srebrenica Genocide denial.

The denial of Srebrenica genocide -- the systematic slaughter of over 8,000 men, elderly, and children in the U.N. enclave of Srebrenica -- is about as plausible as denying the sphericity of the Earth.

Those who have reduced themselves to Srebrenica genocide denial are trully nothing more than conspiracy theorists hiding under the cover of free speech.

In order to justify Srebrenica genocide, Serbian propaganda - under the leadership of right-wing nationalist Milivoje Ivanisevic - claimed that over 3,000 Serb civilians were murdered around Srebrenica. This was a complete falsification of facts - as concluded by the International Criminal Tribunal, Human Rights Watch, and Research and Documentation Center, read related article.

As Florence Hartmann, Spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor, stated:

...the Serb authorities claimed previously that about 1400 people were killed due to attacks committed by the BH Army forces for the period of May 1992 to March 1995, when Srebrenica was under the control of Naser Oric. Now the figure has become 3,500 Serbs killed....these figures just does not reflect the reality. [Source: Office of the Chief U.N. War Crimes Prosecutor]

Although denying the Srebrenica genocide has not yet won respectability, it has managed to win an audience. Instead of being instantly dismissed as disgusting nonsense, denying the Srebrenica genocide is increasingly accorded the status of a "different perspective," a "dissenting point of view," "another opinion."

It is important to keep in mind that Srebrenica genocide denial is not simply just "another perspective" or expression of a "different opinion." It is more accurately described as engagement in the kind of ideological contrarianism that corrupts the very nature of facts and logic in order to promulgate historical falsehood.

Invoking the principles of free speech, many decent people fail to see anything wrong with a platform of Srebrenica genocide denial. But this liberal sentiment plays directly into the hands of deniers.

The methodologies of Srebrenica genocide deniers have remained the same and are based on predetermined conclusions that ignore extensive judicial and historical evidence to the contrary. They not only misrepresent facts with out-of-context outtakes, but they distort and fabricate history and then broadcast their conspiracy theories to a wider public in hopes of winning public opinion.

What they fail to grasp is that Srebrenica genocide is not a matter of public (or anybody's) opinion; it's a judicial fact recognized first by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and subsequently at the International Court of Justice at the Hague.