Montenegro Minister Refuses to Resign for Srebrenica Genocide Comments

Montenegrin Minister of Justice, Human and Minority Rights Vladimir Leposavic. Photo: Government of Montenegro.

Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic proposed the sacking of Leposavic on Monday after the minister expressed doubt about the international court's ruling classifying the 1995 Srebrenica massacres of Bosniaks by Bosnian Serb forces as genocide.

Leposavic, a pro-Serbian politician, argued last month that the Hague Tribunal has no legitimacy because he claimed it had destroyed evidence about the trafficking of the organs of Serb civilians in Kosovo.

But Leposavic said on Thursday that he was not denying the Srebrenica genocide, but expressing his position on the Hague court.

"I respect the binding nature of the decisions of that court, but I reserve the right to express a critical view of its work," he said.

"By taking a critical view, I do not intend to invalidate the decisions of this court. My intention is to raise awareness through public dialogue in order to recognise and acknowledge the suffering of other victims of the civil war [in Bosnia]," he added.

He argued that he does not "deserve to be silenced" for his comments, and that he had not "endangered the country's reputation with that criticism".

The prime minister's proposal to dismiss Leposavic must now be voted upon in parliament, where the three blocs making up the ruling alliance have a slender majority.

However, of the parties in the ruling alliance, the pro-Serbian For the Future of Montenegro, which has 27 MPs, and Peace is Our Nation, which has ten MPs, said they will not vote for dismissal. The smallest force in the ruling alliance, Black on White, said its four MPs will vote for Krivokapic's proposal.

Political analysts warned that...