Dr. David Pettigrew warns impunity in BiH is fueling genocide denial and hate speech

Speaking at a press conference organized by Sarajevo-based civic association Krug 99, Pettigrew said such acts are not only an insult to facts established by international courts, but also retraumatize survivors and risk creating conditions for renewed violence.

Bosnia’s criminal code was amended in 2021 to ban genocide denial and the glorification of convicted war criminals, after then-High Representative Valentin Inzko imposed the changes. But Pettigrew argued that enforcement has been minimal and that near-total impunity has encouraged more extreme rhetoric.

He pointed to the lack of prosecutions over murals and plaques honoring Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide, as well as repeated denial of the Srebrenica genocide by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.

Pettigrew also criticized what he described as the international normalization of such rhetoric, saying recent political and lobbying efforts linked to BiH's Republika Srpska (RS) entity have helped amplify secessionist narratives and portray Bosnia as a supposed security threat.

He specifically condemned media and political messaging that demonizes Bosniaks, including recent commentary in Washington portraying Bosnia as an “Islamist state” on NATO’s frontier.

Pettigrew also warned about the wider resurgence of nationalist symbolism across the region, citing gatherings linked to the Ravna Gora movement in Visegrad and the promotion of the Vilina Vlas hotel - a site associated with wartime atrocities against Bosniak women and girls - as a tourist destination.

He said Bosnia’s Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) share responsibility for allowing the current climate to worsen.

Pettigrew called for criminal prosecutions, the removal of monuments and murals glorifying convicted war criminals, and stronger transitional justice measures, including allowing survivors to establish memorials at former detention and massacre sites.

“There is no time to lose,” he said.