Serbian President Nikolic Again Denies Srebrenica Was Genocide

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic

The new Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has again said that the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces at Srebrenica in 1995 was not genocide.

In comments released on June 8, Nikolic was quoted as saying that "my compatriots committed a horrible crime [at Srebrenica] and I will never justify that."

But he backed the position of the Serbian parliament which removed the word "genocide" from its 2010 declaration on Srebrenica.

Nikolic had already made similar controversial comments about Srebrenica and other crimes the Serbs committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnia war shortly after he took office last month.

International courts have ruled that the killings at Srebrenica were genocide.

Nikolic is set to make his first trip as president to EU headquarters in Brussels on June 14.

Based on reporting by dpa and B92