Srebrenica massacre

The Bosnian state court has given BIRN a list of 41 people who are wanted for trial and are the subjects of international arrest warrants, many of whom are living in neighbouring Serbia.

On the list are several suspects accused of involvement in the 1995 genocide of Bosniaks from Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces, including former Bosnian Serb Interior Minister Tomislav Kovac.

Mayor of Niksic Marko Kovacevic (right) at a session of parliament. Photo: Parliament of Montenegro.

"After gathering the necessary evidence, the Higher Prosecution in Podgorica filed an indictment, and the High Court in Podgorica will have to confirm it," state prosecutor Lepa Medenica told news website CDM.

The Bosnian state court announced on Thursday that its appeals chamber has sentenced Srecko Acimovic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army Zvornik Brigade's Second Battalion, to seven years in prison for aiding and abetting the genocide of Bosniak men from Srebrenica in July 1995.

This is the conclusion of the Independent International Commission for the Study of the Suffering of All Nations in the Srebrenica Region in the period 1992-1995, formed by the Government of Republika Srpska.

Director Jasmila Zbanic's Oscar-nominated 'Quo Vadis, Aida?', about a Bosnian translator for the United Nations trying to save her family amid the violence and chaos of the Srebrenica genocide, is one of several films focusing on armed conflict that will be screened at the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival, which opens on Friday.

The Bosnian state court on Monday ordered Milomir Savcic, the wartime commander of the 65th Protective Motorised Regiment of the Bosnian Serb Army's Main Headquarters, to be remanded in custody for breaching a court order prohibiting him from speaking publicly about issues related to the charges against him, his lawyer told BIRN.

The referee of a match on Sunday evening between Novi Pazar FC and Belgrade club Partizan FC temporarily halted play because Partizan fans were chanting Ratko Mladic's name and a slogan celebrating the 1995 mass killings of Bosniaks from Srebrenica.

The proposal came after the Peace is Our Nation bloc and the Black on White coalition, both of which are also part of the ruling alliance, voted alongside opposition MPs to adopt a resolution to recognise the Srebrenica massacres by Bosnian Serb forces in 1995 as genocide.

The announcement on Friday of a ban on genocide and war crimes denial by High Representative Valentine Inzko, the international official who oversees implementation of the peace deal that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war, was hailed by representatives of survivors of the Srebrenica gecocide.

Scottish forensic technician Robert McNeil arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996, shortly after the discovery of the first mass graves of victims of the Srebrenica massacres.

The war had ended not long beforehand, and McNeil recalled how he could sense the smell of conflict and the scale of the suffering around him.