Troll of the Month: Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkan region.

This month’s title goes to Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, who has once again publicly denied the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica.

Just one day after his detention was lifted under prohibitory measures, Dodik appeared in Bratunac, where he denied the Srebrenica genocide, calling it a “terrible crime” instead.

“The Serbs in Srebrenica did not commit genocide. A terrible crime happened in Srebrenica. Let them commemorate that pain in seven days,” he said, referencing the 30th commemoration of the genocide.

He added that he was a comrade-in-arms of Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, the former political and military leaders of RS, who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On August 1st, the Appellate Panel of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina upheld the first-instance verdict sentencing Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and imposing a six-year ban on holding the office of President of Republika Srpska for disobeying the decisions of the High Representative. At a session of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Central Election Commission held on 6 August, Dodik was stripped of his mandate as President of Republika Srpska.

At a press conference held on June 26, Dodik also said that the significance of marking the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica is being exaggerated, while on the other hand, the crimes against Serbs in Podrinje are not being discussed. Dodik again repeated that “it is undeniable that a crime took place in Srebrenica against Muslims, but it is not a crime of genocide, but a serious war crime.”

This is not the first time Dodik has made such claims, nor is he the only figure who does so. Reports from the Srebrenica Memorial Centre identify Dodik as one of the biggest deniers of the genocide in Srebrenica, alongside other high-ranking public officials from Republika Srpska and Serbia. This shows genocide denial “comes from the very top of the political, institutional and media structures in the region”, confirmed by RDN findings as well.

The final rulings of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) established the events in Srebrenica as genocide. Together with ICTY, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the judiciary in Serbia and Croatia have so far sentenced a total of 54 people to 781 years and five life sentences in prison – for genocide, crimes against humanity and other crimes committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. Under Article 145a of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Criminal Code, genocide denial is a criminal offence. Denial of the Srebrenica genocide dishonours the memory of the victims, retraumatises survivors and families of the victims, and obstructs efforts toward reconciliation and justice not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in the whole region. By legitimising revisionist narratives, such statements further entrench ethnic divisions, fuel distrust among communities, and erode the foundations of democratic governance.