Cedomir Jovanovic, the leader of the opposition LDP party in Serbia, said on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide and commemoration for victims that “accepting the truth on Srebrenica does not mean betrayal of Serbia, or offending of Serb victims.” Pročitaj više

Jovanovic attended the commemoration at the Potocari Memorial Centre on Tuesday, where 30 more victims were laid to rest.

After he paid respects to the victims, Jovanovic said that “with their dreadful fate, 8,372 Bosniak victims are today doing more for the peace of all people than most of the live ones do.”

Funeral service held for 30 victims of Srebrenica genocide (PHOTO)

“Srebrenica is our shame and sin, more than ever, because after 28 years we are still turning a blind eye, pathetically and unsuccessfully trying to deceive the Bosniaks, our own people and the whole world around us,” said Jovanovic, one of the few politicians in Serbia who recognise the mass killing from the eastern Bosnian town as genocide.

He stressed that he feels a deep human need to say “we must not hide in front of those who would like to push us again into hatred and war madness,” adding that this is not only his obligation as a politician but as a human and as a parent, which he points out on every July 11 by saying that “Srebrenica is a symbol of a terrible sin of my people and the ones who were its leaders of that time.”

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“Accepting the truth on Srebrenica does not mean betrayal of Serbia, or offending of Serb victims, but is an expression of the deepest fondness and respect towards Bosniaks and their victims but also towards my own country, my people and their suffering, towards our children who are growing up in this chaotic society deprived of basic values. This is the least I could do, given the fact that majority is still refusing to say the truth and to ask every human and every god for forgiveness, because Srebrenica is not a coincidental consequence of unhappy war events, but the crime of genocide that responsible individuals were tried for and convicted,” he stressed.

Jovanovic concluded that Serbia “shouldn't have nor should it now to deny and relativise the policy that had been spreading throughout the 1990s from Belgrade in the darkest and the most shameless decade in the history of the Serb people.”

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The remains of another 30 victims have been buried on Tuesday at the Potocari Memorial Centre, with the youngest victim aged 15 at the time of the death and other two juvenile victims aged 16 and 17.

Over 8,000 persons were killed in the genocide, mainly men and boys. To date, the remains of 6,652 have been buried at the Potocari memorial. The remains of 237 have been buried elsewhere according to their families’ wishes.

For the Srebrenica genocide, the Hague war crimes tribunal sentenced to life former Bosnian Serb political and military leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.