LJILJANA BULATOVIC: DENIER OF GENOCIDE IN SREBRENICA

Last Updated: Dec 16, 2008.

Ljiljana Bulatovic-Medic, the author of several ‘books’ celebrating indicted war criminals and denying genocide in Srebrenica, is a Serbian extremist writer and a 'source' without any credibility.

PHOTO: You're looking at a face of Ljiljana Bulatovic, Serbian extremist writer and Srebrenica genocide denier. In May 2005, Ljiljana Bulatovic participated in Milivoje Ivanisevic's Srebrenica genocide denial "panel discussion" titled "Truth about Srebrenica" at the law school at the University of Belgrade. She said that "there was no genocide in Srebrenica" and that "Karadzic and Mladic are truly heroes of Serbian nation." She called for graves of Srebrenica genocide victims to be removed from 'Serbian' Srebrenica to the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity, because the graves "occupy a very productive part of land which should be used in agricultural production."

Before we go into a brief review of the latest Srebrenica genocide denial book, written by Ljiljana Bulatovic-Medic, we will quickly share some facts with our readers, so they can better understand the worst European atrocity since World War II:

FACT #1: Srebrenica genocide claimed lives of 8,000 to 10,000 Bosniaks Muslims, including forcible deportations (ethnic cleansing) of more than 20,000 civilians. Many victims were buried alive and truckloads of corpses were thrown into the Drina river, and will likely never be recovered. (see: CNN)

FACT #2: About 5,800 victims of Srebrenica Genocide have been identified through DNA analysis, but they can be reburied only after 70 percent of the bodily remains have been identified. Bosnian Serbs first buried the bodies near the execution sites but then dug out many of them with bulldozers and reburied remains in secondary mass graves in an attempt to hide the crime. (see: Reuters)

FACT #3: In an attempt to justify genocide of more than 8,000 Bosniaks, the fact that 151 Serb civilian victims died around Srebrenica (including Bratunac municipality) was grossly inflated to a number of more than 3,000 by a radical Serbian nationalist and Srebrenica genocide denier, Milivoje Ivanisevic. (see: UN-backed Research and Documentation Center)

FACT #4: Serb sources persist in justifying genocide by stating that the Srebrenica massacre was 'retaliation' of Serb forces for Bosniak attacks on Serb-held villages around Srebrenica. According to the United Nations, "Even though this accusation is often repeated by international sources, there is no credible evidence to support it." (see: U.N. Report: Role of Bosniak Forces on the Ground)

FACT #5: The Serbs never demilitarized around Srebrenica. Instead, Bosnian Serb military and paramilitary troops continued using surrounding Serb villages to launch attacks on Srebrenica and kill trapped civilians. In 1993, for example, 62 Bosniak children were massacred and 152 wounded as a result of a single attack coming from surrounding Serb-held villages. (see: U.N. Report: The Fall of Srebrenica)

Buyer Beware: Here is a short review of "Krici i Opomena," the latest book written by a radical Serbian ultra-nationalist writer Ljiljana Bulatovic-Medic:

There is a new Srebrenica genocide denial / Srebrenica genocide justification book written by discredited Srebrenica genocide denier Ljiljana Bulatovic (aka: Ljiljana Bulatovic-Medic). The book 'Screams and the Omen' (Krici i Opomena) contains depressingly familiar rhetoric of manufactured lies and distortions fabricated by the ultra-nationalist Srebrenica genocide denial factories in Serbia. As respected British historian, Dr Marko Attila Hoare, once noted: "The average MPhil student here at Cambridge would be embarrassed to produce the sort of rubbish churned out by Michael Parenti, Diane Johnstone, Kate Hudson and other ill-informed genocide deniers..." We agree.

In Ljiljana Bulatovic's twisted mind, Ratko Mladic is a 'hero' and the symbol of everything 'good' Serb people have to offer. On the other hand, crimes like Markale market massacres in Sarajevo (see Q/A #12) and Srebrenica genocide are just another examples of 'western conspiracy' against 'courageous' Serb people. In fact, this is not the first extremist book she published. Ljiljana Bulatovic wrote a number of radical ultra-nationalist books celebrating genocide and Bosnian Serb war criminals.

In 1996, she published a book titled "General Mladic." The book celebrates the former Bosnian Serb General, Ratko Mladic, who is responsible for orchestrating summary killings of 8,000 to 10,000 Bosniak Muslim men, children, and elderly, including forcible deportations (ethnic cleansing) of at least 20,000 civilians during 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

In 2002, Ljiljana Bulatovic published another book titled "Radovan" (2nd edition). The book follows usual war-crimes apologist agenda and radical ultra-nationalist rhetoric praising the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as being the best among Serbs. Karadzic is currently in prison facing two separate counts of genocide, and other crimes against humanity.

Her new book, "Screams and the Omen," (2008) or "Krici i Opomena," is yet another instalment of ultra-nationalist Serbian propaganda attempting to deny and justify Srebrenica genocide by grossly inflating Serb casualties and, at the same time, dismissing massive-scale war crimes committed by Bosnian Serbs against Bosniaks Muslims.

According to the Serbian nationalist newspaper Glas Javnosti, "With the third book in the edition 'The Real Srebrenica,' Ljiljana Bulatovic-Medic has given a valuable contribution to establishing the full truth about the martyrdom and bloodcurdling sufferings of the Serbs in Srebrenica." Glas Javnosti is known by its extreme radical rhetoric and Srebrenica genocide denial; recently, they misused photos of Srebrenica genocide mass graves by portraying them as mass graves of Serb 'victims' of the so called "Muslim-Croat terror" - click here to take a look.

In a depressingly familiar tone of reasoning, Ljiljana Bulatovic paints Bosnian Serbs as 'heroes' and 'the victims' of the so called 'western conspiracy.' Without any regard for facts, she repeatedly cites discredited numbers of "3,562" Bosnian Serb casualties around Srebrenica - the very number doctored by another Srebrenica genocide denier, Milivoje Ivanisevic.

Ljiljana Bulatovic labels Srebrenica genocide victims as 'mujahadeens' and 'bloodthirsty' 'terrorists' who tortured 'innocent' and 'unarmed' Bosnian Serbs; hence, she suggests/implies that Srebrenica genocide victims deserved to die. The book contains mostly hearsay testimonies ("he said/she said") and gross exagerations plagiarized from Milivoje Ivanisevic's book "The Chronicles of Our Graves."

One of exaggerations is a fabricated lie that people under Naser Oric's command tortured "Serb children" in Police station in Srebrenica. As the UN-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the Hague concluded in Oric's trial judgment, "Whereas the Serb men [10-15 Serb soldiers captured during fighting] were routinely beaten while detained at the Building, the Serb women and children were not."

There can never be any equivalence or comparison between the individual war crimes committed against Bosnian Serbs and the monstrous crime of genocide committed against the Bosniak population of the former United Nations 'safe area' enclave of Srebrenica.

As an alternative to Ljiljana Bulatovic-Medic's make-believe denials, readers might be interested in cold hard facts, which they can read at our page of Questions and Answers about Srebrenica genocide:

RESPONDING TO THE GROWING ASSAULT
ON TRUTH AND MEMORY