Bosnian nationalists are making "unacceptable provocations" by glorifying convicted war criminals and denying crimes from the 1992-1995 war, the UN prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia said Wednesday.
Serge Brammertz urged the Security Council to address the denial of war crimes in Bosnia during a meeting on the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
The prosecutor criticized a recent decision of Bosnian Serb education officials to ban textbooks that teach students about the Srebrenica genocide and the siege of Sarajevo.
"These facts are taught in classrooms around the world, but not in the country where the crimes were committed," Brammertz told the council.
On Thursday, a Croat singer whose shows have been banned in several countries, Marko Perkovic Thompson, will perform at a benefit concert in Mostar for Bosnian Croat indicted war criminals.
"These unacceptable provocations, the latest in a very long list, are an insult to the victims, to this council and to all who believe in justice," said Brammertz.
"The message of denial and revisionism is loud and clear. We recognize our victims, but not yours. Your war criminals are our heroes," he said.
The ICTY is set to close down at the end of this year, more than 20 years after it opened to try those responsible for war crimes in the war.
Under the Dayton peace accord that ended the war, Bosnia was divided into two regions - the Serb Republic and the Bosnia-Croat federation - under a weak central government that has failed to bring about a full reconciliation.
