Srebrenica mayor disagrees that genocide happened there

Srebrenica mayor disagrees that genocide happened there

"I respect each victim, as I respect my own father who was killed. Each victim has its own weight, value, and needs to be respected, but I cannot agree with the qualification of that event," Grujicic said.

According to him, "one moment you have a genocide ruling, another time, for another number (of victims), in the third moment, lists of people who have nothing do to with the events of July 11 (1995) show up."

Grujicic said that he researched the matter and found plenty of evidence that people who are alive have been listed as buried in the Srebrenica memorial in Potocari.

"The list of the victims should be revised and changed. We have been pointing out to many mistakes, but the number would always remain the same," the mayor said.

Asked whether he still denied genocide in Srebrenica, Grujicis replied that he cannot deny something that did not happen.

He added that the Hague Tribunal said it is early verdicts that 8,372 people had been killed.

"But in the ruling against (Radovan) Karadzic, it was 3,000 and something, then 5,000... I don't want to deal with the issues that will lead to discord among citizens. I've demonstrated that I'm not what they said I was, and let qualified people, who are paid for it, deal with it. While we should turn to the current situation, the living people and their lives," he said.

Grujicic said there had been prejudice against him in Srebrenica.

"At each gathering they were saying that a Serb must not be the (municipal) chief, I always wondered why. The fear was created that something would happen - which someone wished would happen - but did not. Somebody expected Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) to leave, a crisis situation. The complete opposite has happened, and that is Bosniaks accepting me, just as Serbs, as their neighbor, their well-meaning neighbor who lives here with his family and wants to change the environment for the better," the mayor said.