Dear Mr. Oliphant,
Thank you very much on your really comprehensive replay. However, something in your replay is bothering me. You are saying: this bill serves as a step in the right direction and will ultimately provide a small degree of comfort to the survivors of this genocide and to the Bosnian Muslim community here in Canada. I must admit it is very considered. But, are you aware that there is also a very sizable Bosnian Serb community in Canada? Have you asked yourself why they are there and what have happened to them, their relatives, friends back in Bosnia (many of them now also refuges all over the world, their homesteads destroyed, raised to the ground ...etc), or are they justly considered to be just a collateral damage (new word often used by the international community-namely NATO countries, including my adopted one and yours as well) of their own aggression on the country where they and their ancestors have always lived? You know, at the time when one of British TV Channel was commissioning a program Bloody Bosnia I was asked if I could provide somebody from Bosnia but of Serb origin. I took to Londons home of commissioning journalist my friend, Sarajevos University (PhD) Professor who just managed, in his bullet holed (Lada) car with his wife and small child, to escape from Sarajevo to Britain. The journalist who until then, in his own words, visited Sarajevo nine times did not have the answer to my question why he never visited Vogosca (small town only eight kilometres away from Sarajevo) which was also in siege but by the Bosnian Muslims. He said he was not interested in monstrous Serbs! He was also not interested in any of the facts provided by my friend. It was very clear to us that we did not have the story which will fill the purpose of that Program. This was as you might say the other side of the objective journalism. To cut it short, in that Program there was NOT A WORD about the fate of Serbs, NOT A WORD about the experiences of my friend the very real victim of that civil war!? Media propaganda was very successful then and is still continuing unabated! I consider yourself and many more people like yourself, perhaps with very noble convictions, to be the unsuspecting victims of that monstrous media propaganda! Unless there is a hidden agenda ? Because of those , first hand experiences, fabrications by propaganda machines and my desire to help good people know the real truth about the happenings in war torn country of my origin I am writing to yourself and the others to try to show to you , that unknown (or not wanted to know) other side of the story. It is up to you to be the final judge. To that end I would also like to forward to you and to the other people on this email list the following article sent to the Secretary General of UN. It might help you all to know more about Srebrenica. Ill finish it off with an old Serbian saying: Zaklela se zemlja raju da se sve tajne znaju or loosely translated : The Earth has sworn to the Heaven that every secret will be known. And it will take long, long time for the real truth to come out in the open and be known. But believe me it will! Yours sincerely Slobodan Petrovic - - - - - - - - http://www.serb-victims.org/en/index.php?option=com_content <http://www.serb-victims.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22 3&Ite\mid=1> &task=view&id=223&Ite\mid=1 Institute for Research on Suffering of the Serbs in XX c. Démarche to Secretary General UN <http://www.serb-victims.org/en/index2.php?option=com_content <http://www.serb-victims.org/en/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2 23&p\op=1&page=0&Itemid=1> &task=view&id=223&p\op=1&page=0&Itemid=1> <http://www.serb-victims.org/en/index2.php?option=com_content <http://www.serb-victims.org/en/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform &id=\223&itemid=1> &task=emailform&id=\223&itemid=1> President of UN General Assembly Mr. Ali Abdussalam Treki No. I-1-16/2010 Belgrade, 17 June 2010 *Excellency,* The Institute for Researching into the Plight of Serbs in the 20th Century wishes to draw your attention to a disputable part of the Report of the UN Secretary General of 15 November 1999 (1) , based on the UN General Assembly resolution 53/35 of 30 November 1998, which reads as follows: After Srebrenica fell under the siege of the Serbian forces in July 1995, a horrendous massacre of the Muslim population took place. The evidence presented by the Prosecution includes scenes of unprecedented savagery: thousands of people were killed and buried in mass graves; hundreds of people were buried alive; men and women were dismembered and slaughtered; children were murdered before their mothers eyes, a grandfather was forced to eat his grandsons liver. Those scenes were truly scenes from hell, inscribed in the darkest pages of human history. This part of the Report of the UN Secretary-General was taken from the statement by Mr. Fuad Ryad, a judge of the International Tribunal for War Crimes Committed in the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was also included in the ICTY press release of 16 November 1995 (2) in connection with the expansion of the indictment against Dr. Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic. The cited segment of the Report of the UN Secretary-General contains monstrous allegations against Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have not been corroborated by facts even after a period of fifteen years. The best proof of this is the fact that in the trial proceedings conducted against persons of Serbian nationality, the Prosecution of the said Tribunal failed to bring any witnesses who could confirm any of those allegations or present valid proofs of their authenticity. Notwithstanding, the Institute for Researching into the Plight of Serbs in the 20th Century thoroughly examined the disputable allegations contained in the Report of the UN Secretary General and undeniably established that they were absolutely unfounded. Namely, it established the following: the grandfather who was forced to eat his grandsons liver was fabricated; murder of children before their mothers eyes was fabricated; the statement that men and women were dismembered and slaughtered was fabricated; burying people alive was fabricated; the number of men who died defending Srebrenica was considerably augmented; the exact number has not yet been established. The Institute would further like to underline the following facts: 1.Unfounded are the allegations cited in the aforementioned Report, which were supported by major international organizations during the past decade and endlessly repeated in mass media and the documents of numerous states, serving as a proof in the propaganda campaign against the Serbian people during the war conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. 2. The Report of the UN Secretary-General, in spite of covering the 1993-1995 period, failed even to refer to the plight of Serbs in the territory of the Commune of Srebrenica. 3. The Report also failed to mention the incontestable fact that out of 9,390 members of Serb nationality living in the Commune of Srebrenica only 860 or merely 9% remained after the Muslim criminal attack from May 1992 to February 1993. 4. Furthermore, the Report failed to mention the Memorandum on War Crimes and Crimes of Genocide in Eastern Bosnia (Communes of Bratunac, Skelani and Srebrenica) Committed against the Serbian Population from April 1992 to April 1993(3) which was presented to the relevant UN Security Council service on 2 June 1993. Excellency, The Institute for Researching into the Plight of Serbs in the 20th Century appeals on you, for the sake of truth, to release a corrigendum of the above mentioned part of the Report of the UN Secretary-General of 15 November 1999. If that is not possible for whatever reasons, the Institute kindly requests that you urge the UN Secretariat to consider this communication addressed to you as a document of the United Nations and to circulate it to all the addressees of the Report of the UN Secretary-General of 15 November 1999. Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration. *Institute for Research on Suffering of the Serbs in the XX Century* *Director* *Milivoje Ivanisevic* c/c Secretary General UN, New York, Mr Ban Ki-Mun Chairman of the UN Security Council, Mr. Claude Heller Rouassant 1) 99-3486(E)271199; United Nations A/54/549; General Assembly Distr.: General, 15 November 1999, Fifty-fourth session, Agenda Item 42: The Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/35 2) Press release issued by the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (cc/PIO/026-E) The Hague, 16 November 1999. 3) Permanent Mission of the FRY to the UN, 2 June 1993 Memorandum on War Crimes and Crimes of Genocide in Eastern Bosnia (Communes of Bratunac, Skelani and Srebrenica) Committed against the Serbian Population from April 1992 to April 1993 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 17 June 2010 23:58 To: [email protected] Subject: A Message from the Office of Robert Oliphant M.P. Dear Slobodan: Thank you for your recent correspondence regarding Bill C-533, the Private Members Bill I introduced on June 10th calling for the establishment of a national day of remembrance in Canada called Srebrenica Remembrance Day. I take your comments very seriously. I recognize that there are a variety of opinions about this issue, and even more feelings, from all sides of the conflict that dominated the last decade of the 20th century. In war, all sides are victims. Of that, I have no doubt. However, the genocidal nature of the particular incident at Srebrenica in the summer of 1995 has been internationally recognized and, I believe, it is time for Canada to recognize it as well. My hope is that such recognition will go a long way to healing the wounds that still exist as a result of that war. As you are no doubt aware, both the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice have ruled that what occurred in July 1995, when 8000 Bosniak men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb Forces in the region of Srebrenica, was genocide. These judgments were the thoughtful results of fair and independent investigation and testimony. Internationally, nations have stepped forward with resolutions regarding the massacre and calls for a day of remembrance. This includes both the European Parliament and the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States of America. Most recently, on March 31st of this year, the Government of Serbia, led by President Boris Tadic, issued a full state apology for the Srebrenica massacre, providing tacit recognition of the genocidal nature of the crime, and endorsing the prior ruling of the International Court of Justice. On June 10, the day I introduced this Bill, it was announced that two Bosnian Serbs, convicted for committing genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, were sentenced to life in prison. These are the first individuals to be definitively convicted for genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Both men were found guilty of genocide, extermination, murder and persecution. The court jailed five other defendants, army and police officers, for between five and 35 years for their involvement in the genocide. The judgement said that "a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population" that culminated with the Srebrenica massacre had begun on orders from former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, who is currently on trial at the tribunal in The Hague. My bill, if passed, will establish a national day of remembrance called Srebrenica Remembrance Day to be held on the 11th of July in each and every year. The bill recognizes the devastating affects this genocide has had on the Bosnian Muslim community. It provides an opportunity for all Canadians to stand with those in the Bosniak Canadian community, to share in their pain, and honour the memory of those men and boys massacred in 1995. As we approach the 15th anniversary of this massacre, I hope that this bill serves as a step in the right direction and will ultimately provide a small degree of comfort to the survivors of this genocide and to the Bosnian Muslim community here in Canada. It is also my hope that it will serve as a bridge to other affected communities and will allow all Canadians to move on from the tragic events of the last century and into this new century with greater understanding. Again, thank you for your comments. Yours sincerely, Robert Oliphant, M.P. Don Valley West From: Slobodan [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: June 13, 2010 12:18 AM To: Prime Minister's Office; Harper, Stephen - P.M.; Oliphant, Robert - M.P.; [email protected]; Nicholson, Robert Douglas - M.P.; Kenney, Jason - M.P.; Ignatieff, Michael - M.P.; Layton, Jack - M.P.; Rae, Bob - M.P. Subject: NO TO THE SREBRENICA REMEMBRANCE DAY BILL. Dear Prime Minister and honourable Members of Parliament, As concerned British citizen, I call on you to seriously reconsider the plan to adopt a Bill Calling for a July 11th Srebrenica Remembrance Day. The execution of Moslem prisoners in July of 1995, after Bosnian Serb forces took over Srebrenica, was a war crime, but it is by no means a paradigmatic event. Throughout the war period, 1992?1995, Serbian villages around Srebrenica were subjected to widespread and systematic attacks by Moslem military forces concentrated within the Srebrenica enclave. The fate of Srebrenica Serbs is but a microcosm of their wartime fate in Bosnia/Herzegovina as a whole. Serb inhabitants in the villages surrounding Srebrenica were murdered in the hundreds, abused, expelled, and kidnapped for ransom by Bosnian Muslims. There is nothing to set one crime apart from the other, except that its commission was more condensed in time. In a vicious civil war, in which all sides commit crimes, all innocent victims are entitled to compassion but the victims of one ethnic group should have no special moral claim to unique recognition. Putting the suffering of one group on a pedestal necessarily derogates from the right of the other group in this case Serbian non-combatants in the devastated villages surrounding the enclave of Srebrenica ? to an equal measure of sympathy. More importantly, what really happened in Srebrenica in July of 1995 is an issue that is still not settled, or why it occurred, and who was behind it. The accepted version of events, shaped mainly by war propaganda and hyperbolic media reports, is becoming increasingly obsolete because it is being vigorously questioned and reassessed by critical thinkers in the Western world. Much reliable information on these events is still unavailable and needs to be researched, but without it responsible conclusions on the nature and scope of the Srebrenica massacre cannot be drawn. Both the events alleged scope and its legal description as "genocide" are intensely in dispute. It would therefore be very unwise for Canada and its parliament to formally commit themselves to a version of events that is thin on evidence but long on moral and political implications that are extremely detrimental to Serbian people. I am also troubled by the prospect of Canada and its parliament might accept the thesis that the massacre in Srebrenica, regrettable as it may be, amounts to "genocide. That would unpardonably diminish genuine genocide as a phenomenon of the 20th century, of which the Holocaust of the Jewish people and the mass extermination campaigns against Armenians, Pontus Greeks, Assyrians, Kurds, Serbs and the Roma are some outstanding examples. I am concerned that the politicisation of human suffering and the frivolous usage of the grave legal category of genocide greatly cheapens these important concepts and constitutes an undeserved insult to innocent victims of political violence everywhere in the world. For these reasons, I appeal to you to refrain from passing the Bill Calling for a July 11th Srebrenica Remembrance Day. Slobodan Petrovic Also read: <http://www.srebrenica-project.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=categor y&layout=blog&id=3&Itemid=4> www.srebrenica-project.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout =blog&id=3&Itemid=4 --- <http://www.srebrenica-project.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=categor y&layout=blog&id=16&Itemid=14> www.srebrenica-project.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout =blog&id=16&Itemid=14 ======================================================= Serbian victims A chronicle of inhumanity and horror Throughout the war period, 1992?1995, Serbian villages around Srebrenica were subjected to widespread and systematic attacks by Moslem military forces concentrated within the Srebrenica enclave. The fate of Srebrenica Serbs is but a microcosm of their wartime fate in Bosnia/Herzegovina as a whole. Serb inhabitants in the villages surrounding Srebrenica were murdered in the hundreds, abused, expelled, and kidnapped for ransom and exchange. Most of the villages were torched after the personal property of their Serbian inhabitants had been pillaged. The attacks were indiscriminate and they targeted Serbs as such, without any attempt being made to determine the victims personal position vis-a-vis the ongoing conflict in Bosnia/Herzegovina or the level of threat to Muslim armed forces they might have represented. It is important to note that the Muslim civilian and military authorities conducting these operations out of Srebrenica did not operate independently, but were linked in the political and military chain of command to the Alija Izetbegovic regime in Sarajevo. That government publicly claimed to be multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, and many in the West were misled by intense propaganda to accept its claims at face value. But all the while that regimes Srebrenica representatives were conducting a ruthless three-year pogrom in complete disregard of the fact that their targeted victims were peaceful peasants, indistinguishable from their Moslem neighbours except by the fact that they were Serb and Christian. This is probably a unique case where an internationally recognized government used its military instruments to conduct a carnage of inhabitants that, when addressing the international community, it duplicitously claimed as its own citizens. These witness statements, and others that we will soon add, will make it abundantly clear why Serbs in Bosnia/Herzegovina uncompromisingly insist on being masters of their own fate and why they are entitled to the Republic of Srpska as their safe heaven just as the Jewish people are entitled to Israel. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
