Serbian Ministry Promotes Book Denying Bosnian War Crime

The Serbian Defence Ministry hosted a promotional event on Tuesday evening for a new book that claims to prove that Bosnian Serb forces were not responsible for the Tuzla Gate massacre in which 71 people died on May 25, 1995, contradicting the facts established by the Bosnian state court.

This book, entitled 'Tuzla Gate - A Stage-Managed Tragedy', was written by Ilija Brankovic, a former Yugoslav People's Army general.

The event to promote it was held at the Central Military Club in Belgrade, which is owned by Media Centar Odbrana, the Defence Ministry's publishing and press centre.'

Brankovic claims that the Tuzla Gate area of the town was not shelled, but instead was destroyed by an explosive device pre-planted by others.

The aim of his book is to prove that Novak Djukic, the wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb Army's Ozren Tactical Group, who was convicted of the attack, was not responsible for ordering the shelling of the town.

Djukic was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Bosnian state court in but is not serving his jail time because he left the country for Serbia, which does not have an extradition agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre NGO said on Twitter on Tuesday that it was unacceptable that the Serbian Defence Ministry "continues to negate facts established in court, promote war criminals and scorn victims".

Nedopustivo je da @mo_i_vs nastavlja sa negiranjem sudski utvrđenih činjenica, promocije ratnih zločinaca i nipodištavanjem žrtava. https://t.co/BpT8i2n3ub pic.twitter.com/5aAZuxiu91

— Fond za humanitarno pravo (@FHPHLC) November 5, 2019

After Djukic was convicted in Bosnia and Herzegovina in April 2014, he did not turn...