Why Bosnia Needs an Anti-Genocide Denial Law

That is a problem for a far bigger set of actors in Bosnia than the reactionary and secessionist Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, of Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the state presidency.

Dragan Covic and his Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, bloc have made a habit of glorifying the self-declared, wartime Herceg-Bosna territory, whose creation and entire leadership were characterized by the Hague war-crimes tribunal, the ICTY, as a "joint criminal enterprise". Yet that project remains so foundational to the HDZ's contemporary politics in Bosnia that the party even uses the flag and seal of Herceg-Bosna at virtually all its public functions, including at sessions of the self-declared "Croat National Assembly".

But there is a third camp that has voiced its concerns about the new regime in Bosnia, a small smattering of primarily German-language commentators who expressed their dismay at Inzko's use of his so-called Bonn Powers to impose the law.

Gerald Knaus, one of the authors of a 2003 essay that likened the Office of the High Representative, OHR, to the British imperial regime in India, wrote on Twitter that, "In a [Council of Europe] member, imposing ANY law by a foreign official like this should not be possible. It is against the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] & it is an irresponsible way for Valentin Inzko to leave [Bosnia and Herzegovina]."

A woman walks behind a mural depicting former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, in Belgrade, Serbia, 08 June 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

Knaus's comments were roundly mocked and lambasted by Bosnian commentators, including by the head of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Emir Suljagic. He noted, alongside numerous other interlocutors, that...