The Kosovo government declares July 11th as the „Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica“; Rašić supports, citing individual responsibility

The Kosovo government declares July 11th as the „Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica“; Rašić supports, citing individual responsibility…

The Kosovo government unanimously adopted the decision to declare July 11th as the „Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica“ today. This proposal was submitted for consideration within the framework of the Law on Official Holidays in Kosovo.

The decision was made at today’s 212th session of the Kosovo government. This was the first item on the agenda.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo took the floor first, stating that the crimes in Srebrenica were „the biggest massacre that took place in Europe after World War II.“

After the UN General Assembly passed the resolution on Srebrenica on May 23 of this year, declaring July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of Genocide in Srebrenica and condemning the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals, Kurti said today that Kosovo has also joined in commemorating this date.

„Today, we join in recalling July 11, as the day of the genocide in Srebrenica, based on the resolution we adopted in the Assembly of Kosovo, which condemns the genocide in Srebrenica.“

Afterward, the victims were honored with a minute of silence.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Emilija Rexhepi, urged the ministers to vote in favor, reminding them that the „genocidal regime of Serbia in Srebrenica“ was previously condemned in the Kosovo Assembly.

Rexhepi also addressed the MPs as a member of the Bosniak community in Kosovo.

„The Republic of Kosovo has expressed deep sorrow for the members of the Bosniak community, as well as for all violations of human rights – for the people who died in the genocide in Srebrenica during the bloody war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kosovo has strongly condemned and continues to condemn any tendency to deliberately and publicly deny the genocide in Srebrenica, with the aim of degrading and concealing the motives of the committed crimes,“ she stated.

She then thanked the Kosovo PM on behalf of the Bosniak people.

„For all that you have been doing all these years in the interest of the Bosniak and Albanian people, two brotherly peoples with a similar history,“ Rexhepi said.

Judgment: The Serbian authorities neither participated nor incited genocide

According to the judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague from February 2007, the crime in Srebrenica was confirmed as genocide, while the soldiers and officers of the army and police of Republika Srpska were identified as the direct perpetrators of the mass murder of more than 8,000 Bosniaks.

The judgment also established that the Serbian authorities neither participated nor incited genocide

Rašić: I will vote, but it is important that we in no way connect it with the Serbs as a whole.

The Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return from the Serbian community, Nenad Rašić, took the floor.

He said that Rexhepi stated something essentially known to everyone, that it was a crime „that had the tendency of a genocidal act.“

„According to international justice, criminal responsibility for the crime of genocide is individualized and cannot be attributed to any ethnic, religious, or other group or community as a whole.“

He underlined that „crime and genocide“ have their own names and surnames and that, in that sense, it must not be generalized in any way – „neither a specific people nor a specific country, but only the perpetrators.“

„Naturally, I will vote for marking the day for the victims of Srebrenica, but I think it is very important that we in no way connect it with the Serbs as a whole, but only on an individual basis, as was the case in this instance,“ he said.