Albanian parliament rejects resolution on recognizing Srebrenica genocide

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) – Albania’s parliament has rejected a resolution recognizing the genocide committed by Serb forces in 1995 in Srebrenica and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The resolution was initiated by Democratic Party MP Tritan Shehu.

The opposition accused the majority led by Prime Minister Edi Rama, who all voted against the resolution, of having close ties to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Shehu said it was a bitter and ugly day for the Albanian parliament.

Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered great pain during its independence war, including the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica genocide, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War II.

In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked the town of Srebrenica, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

The Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

In the spring of 1993, the UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a “safe area.” However, troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic – who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide ­– overran the UN zone.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that a genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.

On June 8, 2021, UN tribunal judges upheld a verdict sentencing Mladic to life in prison for the genocide as well as persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.