Should War Crimes Denial be incriminated in Serbia?
Should War Crimes Denial be incriminated in Serbia?

Author(s): Vesna Rakić Vodinelić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Criminal Law, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: CEDET Centar za demokratsku tranziciju
Keywords: negation; war crimes; genocide; incrimination of war crimes denial
Summary/Abstract: The mainstream of historical and legal thought in Europe confirms the need to have societies with an authoritarian past face that past, to achieve socially desirable and justified goals; the process of facing the evil past is necessary for democratic future. The past a society never faced remains incontrovertible, and an incontrovertible past rules the present. Oblivion, without any social consensus means the social justification of past evil. In Serbia and other post-Yugoslav societies, not only is oblivion encouraged, but there are even attempts to legitimize the evils of an authoritarian and wartime past, most cruelly represented by war crimes committed, though exactly the opposite is happening on a global and European level, where there is a movement towards legal measures prohibiting war crimes denial. To understand whether the incrimination of war crimes denial is also needed in Serbia, a parallel presentation of legislations and international documents has been carried out, and generally accepted arguments for and against incrimination have been offered. The conclusion is that a decision about such an incrimination cannot be made only on the basis of doctrinaire argumentation, but also on the basis of the evaluation of practical needs inherent to the specific context of political and social life in Serbia. Decisive arguments should be sought in the predominant opinion of the public on crimes committed in the name of Serbia and by Serbs during the 1991-1999 wars, in state policy regarding prosecution and punishment of the crime of spreading racial, national and religious hatred and intolerance, as well as in Serbia’s international obligations in its advancement (?) towards the European Union.

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