Serbian Parliament
What was the accusation?
In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces murdered nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina), effectively perpetrating the “worst European massacre since World War II.” In March 2010, the Serbian Parliament passed a resolution officially condemning the massacre and apologizing to the victims’ families. Also in its declaration, Parliament advocated for continued “reconciliation” throughout the former Yugoslavian territory and called upon neighboring nations to issue their own condemnations and apologies for “the crimes committed against the members of the Serbian people in this manner.”
Key Apologia Strategies:
Mortification, Corrective Action
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Transcript
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia most severely condemns the crime committed against the Bosniak population in Srebrenica in July 1995 in the manner established by the ruling of the International Court of Justice, as well as all the social and political processes and incidents that led to the creation of awareness that the realisation of personal national goals can be reached through the use of armed force and physical violence against members of other nations and religions, extending on the occasion condolences and apologies to the families of the victims that everything possible had not been done to prevent the tragedy.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia provides full support to the work of the state authorities in charge of processing war criminals and successful completion of the cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in which the detection and arrest of Ratko Mladic for the purpose of standing trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is particularly significant.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia calls upon all the former conflicting sides in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in the other states of the former Yugoslavia, to continue the process of reconciliation and strengthening of the conditions for common life based on national equality and full observance of human and minority rights and freedoms so that the committed crimes would never be repeated.
“The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia expresses the expectation that the highest authorities of other states on the territory of the former Yugoslavia would also condemn the crimes committed against the members of the Serbian people in this manner, as well as extend condolences and apologies to the families of the Serbian victims.”
Sources
Meikle, J. (2010, March 30). Serbians say sorry for 1995 Srebrenica massacre. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/31/serbians-sorry-1995-srebrenica-massacre
Serbia apologizes for 1995 massacre. (2010, March 30). The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/world/europe/31serb.html
Serbian parliament apologizes for Srebrenica massacre. (2010, March 31). CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/03/31/serbia.srebrenica/index.html
Text of Declaration on Srebrenica adopted by the Parliament of Serbia. (2010, April 17). Srebrenica Genocide Blog. Retrieved from http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2010/04/text-of-declaration-on-srebrenica.html
