Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic has personally apologised for the first time for the massacre that took place in Srebrenica, in a television interview due to be broadcast later next month.
However, the President stopped short of demands to acknowledge the atrocity as genocide, telling the interviewer that the charge remained to be proven.
Speaking in an interview about the massacre, which saw 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed by Serbian forces, Nikolic stated,
"I am down on my knees because of it. Here, I am down on my knees. And I am asking for a pardon for Serbia for the crime that was committed in Srebrenica. I apologise for the crimes committed by any individual on behalf of our state and our people".
The refusal to recognise the act as genocide angered the representatives of victims, with Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, saying,
"We do not need someone to kneel and ask for forgiveness. We want to hear the Serbian president and Serbia say the word genocide".
Nikolic has previously denied genocide took place in Srebrenica, which was sharply rebuked by the European Union, with EU foreign policy official Catherine Ashton having stated,
"[We] would like to remind everyone that Srebrenica has been confirmed as genocide by both the ICTY and the ICJ. Srebrenica was the largest massacre in Europe since world war two, a crime against all of humankind. We should never forget and it should never be allowed to happen again."
See our earlier posts:
Serbian president says 'no genocide in Srebrenica' (03 June 2012)
Serbian President denies Srebrenica genocide (10 October 2012)
