The Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) called today the Srebrenica Resolution, which is being discussed in Belgrade today by the Serb Parliament, as "a blow in the face of the Bosnian genocide survivors”. Instead of conducting long debates on a text which plays down the genocide, the Serb Government should at last concentrate on arresting the war criminal Ratko Mladic, for whom an international arrest warrant has been issued, demanded the chair of the German section of the STP, Tilman Zülch. The text of the resolution speaks only of "crimes” and not of genocide, although the International War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) and the International Court of Justice at The Hague (IGH) have classified the massacre of Srebrenica as genocide.

For years General Mladic has enjoyed open support in Serbia . Until about the end of March 2002 he went where he pleased without let or hindrance in Belgrade , although the ICTY had been searching for him since 1995. In 2003 and 2004 he even spent time in barracks of the army of Serbia and Montenegro . At that time the present president of Serbia , Boris Tadic, was Minister of Defence. Until November 2005 Mladic drew regular monthly pension payments in Belgrade .

The fact that Ratko Mladic and the army of the Republika Srpska, both held directly responsible for the genocide in Srebrenica by the IGH, were expressly supported by the Serb regime is proved by the fact that Mladic was promoted by Belgrade three times between 1991 and 1994. He also received after his retirement in 1996 an appointment in the Republika Srpska as adviser to the Crisis Management Group of the Yugoslav army, where he remained until his final retirement in the year 2002.

Tilman Zülch will be glad to provide further information at politik@gfbv.de.