"They weren’t exactly angels, the Muslims": Boris Johnson urged to apologise for Srebrenica comments

[Abdullah719]

"They weren’t exactly angels, the Muslims": Boris Johnson urged to apologise for Srebrenica comments

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged to apologise for an article he wrote in 1997 about the Srebrenica massacre, in which he described "these Muslims" as not "exactly angels".

In a letter with 30 other MPs, Labour's Tony Lloyd said there can be "no excuse for in any way blaming the victims of a genocide for its perpetration".

But Downing Street said the comments had been taken out of context

It is 25 years since 8,000 Muslims were killed at Srebrenica.

The massacre took place during the Bosnian War (1992-1995) when the Serb army was engaged in an ethnic-cleansing operation.

Thousands of Muslims sought safety in Srebrenica, which the UN was protecting with Dutch forces, but the area fell in July 1995 during a Serb offensive led by General Ratko Mladic.

Writing two years later in the Ottawa Citizen, Mr Johnson condemned what had happened, describing it as "the worst massacre on European soil since the Third Reich", but argued that it would have been difficult for the West to intervene in the conflict.

"Alright, I say, the fate of Srebrenica was appalling. But they weren't exactly angels, these Muslims," he said.

In the letter, more than 100 Muslim organisations and community representatives urged Mr Johnson to apologise, arguing that attending events commemorating Srebrenica "without reflection on your previous comments is an insult to the victims and their families".

Responding to the letter Downing Street said: "This quote is clearly taken out of context.

"The prime minister has, over the last 25 years, consistently condemned the Srebrenica genocide as one of the worst crimes in history."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53370703

 

[sweep_shot]

Poor comment from Boris.

He always seemed too bubbly for leadership position.

 

[shaz619]

Lol Boris wont apologise even for poisoning his own grandma

 

[MenInG]

Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, the chief architect of the Srebrenica genocide, was still without a final verdict even 25 years after the massacre.

In July 1995, Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in a few days. The episode - labelled as genocide by two international courts - came at the end of a 1992-95 war between Bosnia's Croats, Muslims and Serbs that killed some 100,000 people.

Mladic was handed a life sentence in 2017 for genocide and other crimes by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), but the appeal has yet to begin.

His victims' relatives have been worrying that the now frail former general may die before being dealt incontestable justice.

Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, an ethnic melting pot once showcased as an example of "brotherhood and unity" in Yugoslavia, Mladic - now 77 - was an anonymous army officer until the violent breakup of the federation in 1991.

A year later, he was appointed the overall commander of Bosnian Serb forces. He carried out a swift, merciless campaign against the then far weaker Bosniak and Croat forces, grabbing swathes of land for the Serbs.

At one point, the Serbs, who virtually inherited the Yugoslav army in Bosnia, controlled three-quarters of the country. His forces also launched a campaign of terror against Bosniaks and Croats wherever possible.

The ICTY judgement detailed gruesome details of murder, beatings, rape and other atrocities, some of which he ordered or witnessed personally.

During the trial, Mladic showed no remorse; on the contrary, despite being frail and occasionally not fully coherent, he attempted to radiate the same arrogance which showed during the 1992-95 war.

"I want my enemies, and there are many, to drop dead because I am still alive," he said as the trial opened eight years ago.

During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Mladic reportedly enjoyed showing off his might for cameras, be it by lifting weights or by strutting among terrified Bosniak prisoners - just before his troops killed them.

"Good evening, I am General Mladic," he was filmed telling terrified women and children waiting in a bus as they waited to be expelled from their homes in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Even as he spoke, his soldiers were rounding up able-bodied males - the youngest was 14 - and setting up their execution.

A US diplomat then involved in the region, Christopher Hill, described Mladic as "brutal, arrogant and vain".

He recounted how during talks called in 1995 in a bid to ease the siege of Sarajevo, the general slaughtered a pig to demonstrate his ruthlessness.

When the war ended a few months after Srebrenica, Mladic - then already under an ICTY indictment, but also under the protection of Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade - remained on the same track.

There were reports of him confronting armed British commandos while skiing with his bodyguards in the mountains above Sarajevo and attending a football match in Belgrade.

After Milosevic fell in 2000 and pressure from the West began to grow on Serbia to hand over ICTY indictees, most of all Mladic, he went underground and remained on the run until May 26, 2011.

He was arrested in a relative's home in Lazarevo, in northern Serbia. The arrest, his extradition and the start of the trial a year later were met with huge attention in Serbia and the region.

'The Butcher of Srebrenica'
In spite of the detailed, well-documented accusations shown daily on TV channels which aired the proceedings live, Mladic retained the status of the nation's hero defender, a role he was given by Milosevic's media during the Yugoslav wars.

The ICTY finally sentenced Mladic to life on November 22, 2017, for the Srebrenica genocide and other crimes. Both he and the prosecution appealed the verdict, the latter because Mladic had been cleared of some accusations.

The appeal, now handled by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunal for proceedings unfinished by the ICTY before its closure in December 2017, had been delayed twice from the initial scheduled date on March 22 and the verdict is not expected before 2021.

Many Serbs see the trials of Mladic and other Serbs as an instrument of western pressure on their orthodox, Russia-friendly nation.

For the other side in the Yugoslav wars, however, Mladic will always be a mass murderer nicknamed "the Butcher of Srebrenica".

Now, with Mladic reportedly surviving a series of strokes and appearing very frail, his victims worry that he may actually die before the appeals ruling and leave the door open for a debate over his guilt or innocence.

That has happened before, with none other than the biggest player in the Yugoslav wars: Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic succumbed to heart failure in 2006 with the verdict months ahead and so died as a legally innocent man.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/srebrenica-trial-25-years-genocide-200711072422654.html

 

[MenInG]

Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the victims of Srebrenica to mark the 25th anniversary of the massacre in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Around 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in 1995 by Bosnian Serb forces - the worst atrocity on European soil since the end of World War Two.

The prime minister said "we owe it to the victims" to remember Srebrenica and "to ensure it never happens again".

It comes after he was criticised for a 1997 article he wrote about Srebrenica.

On Friday, Mr Johnson was urged to apologise for his comments in which he described "these Muslims" as not "exactly angels".

In a letter from more than 100 Muslim representatives and 30 MPs, Labour's Tony Lloyd said there can be "no excuse for in any way blaming the victims of a genocide for its perpetration".

But Downing Street said the comments had been taken out of context.

Mr Johnson said in a video posted on Twitter on Saturday: "I want to join with you once more in mourning the victims of those terrible events, and to stand with the families in their fight for justice.

"As in so many cases from this conflict which brought violence and destruction across the western Balkans, many families still do not know what happened to their loved ones. Many perpetrators have still not been held to account.

"And there are those who would prefer to forget or deny the enormity of what took place. We must not allow that to happen."

'Heinous cruelty'

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who previously worked as a Foreign Office lawyer involved in bringing war criminals to justice at the Hague, also released a statement.

He said: "During my time in the Hague between 2003 and 2006, pursuing those responsible for this dark chapter in European history, I was reminded daily of the heinous cruelty perpetrated against the innocent.

"The UK is determined to end impunity and help rebuild those countries affected."

The massacre took place during the Bosnian War (1992-1995) when the Serb army was engaged in an ethnic-cleansing operation.

Thousands of Muslims sought safety in Srebrenica, which the UN was protecting with Dutch forces, but the area fell in July 1995 during a Serb offensive led by General Ratko Mladic.

Prince Charles had planned to personally pay his respects at nearby Potocari cemetery but the trip was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a recorded message, he said the "terrible events" of July 1995 were "a dreadful stain on our collective conscience".

He said: "The international community failed those who were killed, those who somehow survived and those who endure the terrible loss of their loved ones.

"By remembering the pain of the past and learning its lessons, we can together resolve that it must never happen again."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53375466

 

[El Generico]

Serbian MPs Leave Kosovo Parliament during Moment of Silence for Srebrenica Genocide

Serb List party MPs have refused to join their colleagues in the minute of silence in memory of the Srebrenica genocide in the Kosovo parliament.

On Friday, the parliament held a moment of silence honoring the 8,372 victims killed within thirteen days by Serbian forces 25 years ago in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Serbian MPs were seen standing up from their seats and leaving the plenary session at that moment.

The party controlled by Belgrade has 10 MPs in parliament, and is part of the governing coalition, with 2 ministers and a deputy minister in the Kosovo government.

https://exit.al/en/2020/07/10/serbi...ng-moment-of-silence-for-srebrenica-genocide/

All they had to do was stay quiet for 60 seconds but I am guess the hate was way too much for them to even do that.

 

[sweep_shot]

Can't expect much from these monsters.

Then again, Serbia is an irrelevant country.

 

[Saeed]

Every single Bosnian should have weapons and some defensive training. I wouldn’t trust such people.

 

[Savak]

This should perhaps be the most shameful episode in UN history. The Dutch peacekeepers who were assigned to protect the Muslim population chose to let the Serb soldiers massacre the Muslims in exchange for not being touched by the Serbian army.

Apparently some of these Dutch keepers suffered from Depression, PTSD, guilt and committed suicide later on.

 

[Giannis]

The Balkans is like the most Desi part of Europe, at least their mentalities lol

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

I don't know why some quote from Boris in 1997 is being dragged up now. He wasn't the PM then, and when the massacre actually happened, the civilised world powers obviously held much the same sentiments as they allowed it to happen.

 

[cric_man]

This should perhaps be the most shameful episode in UN history. The Dutch peacekeepers who were assigned to protect the Muslim population chose to let the Serb soldiers massacre the Muslims in exchange for not being touched by the Serbian army.

Apparently some of these Dutch keepers suffered from Depression, PTSD, guilt and committed suicide later on.

some allegedly stood by and watched serbian paramilitary "White Knights" rape over 25000 muslim women and girls and did nothing for over 5 days...