External government imposes dubious law on Serbia

25.11.2016

The National Assembly of Serbia has voted for the adoption of a law providing for the prosecution of genocide denial.

Changing the criminal law

This concerns article 387 (5). Now, according to the new version, the public denial of genocide and war crimes can lead to citizens of Serbia being sent to prison for up to five years.

The Serbian question

This law must be considered in the context of the political pressure on Serbia and the historical period of the last thirty years. The West accuses Serbs of genocide in relation to the Muslim population, particularly in Srebrenica, according to Western experts.

In fact, this was a provocation organized to discredit Serbs, which numerous facts collected by researchers have evidenced.

This law is aimed at forming a discourse on the collective guilt of Serbs for war crimes. 

Serbian politicians’ impotence

Moreover, the majority of the Serbian parliament voted for the amendments to the Criminal Code. The Minister of Justice of Serbia, Nela Kuburovich, speaking in Parliament, pointed to "obligations to Europe."

EU legislation has a provision on genocide denial being relevant only for EU member states. Serbia is not a member of this association. In addition, not all EU countries have adapted their legislation to this provision.

An interesting fact is that the European Court of Human Rights recognized an opportunity for Turkish citizens to publicly deny the Armenian genocide in 2015.