NEBOJSA MALIC'S TWISTED MIND OF GENOCIDE DENIAL
Discredited genocide denier and an amateur 'historian,' Nebojsa Malic (photo), is back to his old tricks again. As a long-time apologist for Serb(ian) war crimes, Malic acts as a parrot for shameless Belgrade propaganda.
Malic does not have any PhD qualification in history, He has never held an academic post, published his work in an academic journal, or even visited an archive. For the purpose of self-promotion, he alleges that he "had exposure to diplomatic and media affairs in Sarajevo," but our sources in Sarajevo could not confirm his so called "exposure" to anything except numerous racist web sites that enjoy republishing his propaganda.
Since 2000, unqualified Nebojsa Malic has been tirelessly writing for Antiwar.com - a website where conspiracy theorists and Srebrenica genocide deniers come together to rewrite the history, and condemn the "West" for being "Anti-Serb." In his mind, Serbs and Serbia are so "important" that the "West" had to conspire against them.
In his latest genocide denial article, titled "Matter of Opinion," Malic claims that the Srebrenica genocide case rests on only one witness, namely Drazen Erdemovic. To be exact, "the ICTY’s entire case on Srebrenica rests on the testimony of one man," clueless Malic alleges in his article.
But, the facts tell a different story. In a landmark genocide case involving Radislav Krstic, more than 100 Srebrenica genocide witnesses were called to testify (see Case Information Sheet). Since then, at least seven (7) other Serbs were convicted on genocide charges by the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina with international judges presiding.
To prove his "one witness" argument, Malic provided a link to John Laughland's article in which Laughland reviewed a book of an obscure Bulgarian author Germinal Civikov. In his book review, Laughland cited Jonathan Rooper as an authority on Srebrenica. What a joke. One can notice a circle of genocide deniers quoting each other as sources - how convenient. Both Laughland and Rooper are well known supporters of Milosevic-Karadzic apologist camp. Furthermore, they are shameless Srebrenica genocide deniers. Like Malic, they have no credibility and no academic journal would even take their opinions into consideration.
John Laughland is a member of the so called "British Helsinki Human Rights Group," which is not a genuine human rights organization. Despite its name, the organization is not affiliated to the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. Laughland's organization appears to have fallen on hard times recently, with its funding falling by nearly 99% after 2001. A possible reason is suggested by The Economist, which reports that "the group lost almost all its supporters when it threw its weight behind people like Mr Milosevic."
Malic's weak arguments are followed by a string of half-truths and distortions. He blames Bosniak victims - who found themselves trapped in the Srebrenica ghetto - for using the enclave to attack "surrounding Serb villages constantly" and for not demilitarizing. However, according to the United Nations' findings, the Serbs were asked to withdraw their heavy weapons before the Bosniaks gave up their weapons. Serbs never demilitarized around Srebrenica. Heavily militarized Serb villages around Srebrenica were used as bases for attacks on Srebrenica. In order to prolong the suffering of innocent victims, Serbs around Srebrenica would barricade Bosnian Muslim women, children, and elderly men in abandoned houses and then set them on fire alive - see photo gallery of burned Bosnian Muslim civilians in 1992 (3 years before Serbs committed the genocide!).
Recently, Srebrenica survivors commemorated 17th anniversary of the Bosnian Serb attacks on Srebrenica. Serbs started massacring Bosnian Muslim civilians in May 1992. This was more more than three years before the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, read here.
Malic is troubled because Srebrenica Genocide Blog - at the request of our Jewish readers - published historical facts about Serbia's Nazi past and Serbian involvement in both the Holocaust of Jews (read here) and the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in World War II (read here). To this day, Serbian Nazi Chetnik supporters, like Nebojsa Malic, refuse to acknowledge the Serbian involvement in the holocaust of Jews in Serbia, as well as Serbian involvement in World War II genocide of Bosnian Muslims (see 1943 genocide of Bosniaks in and around Srebrenica).
Nebojsa Malic is so blinded by a radical Serbian ultra-nationalism that he declares Srebrenica genocide mass graves "nonexistent." Furthermore, Malic claims that "the very attempt to call what happened in Srebrenica 'genocide' ought to be an insult to the documented, systematically exterminated victims of the Holocaust." In fact, his statement is an insult to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum that recognizes Srebrenica Genocide. It is also an insult to the Jewish Holocaust survivors, like Ellie Wiesel and Samuel R. Harris, who also recognize Srebrenica genocide and condemn war criminals like Radovan Karadzic.
As a sideline, it is important to note that the ICTY found the acts of genocide were perpetrated not only in Srebrenica, but also elsewhere in Bosnia (example: Krajisnik case). However, in Krajisnik's case, the intent - notoriously difficult to prove - had not been established. With respect to 100,000 dead figure, it only includes known direct deaths. It is not a final number of dead in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The ICTY-backed Research and Documentation Center in Sarajevo is preparing a new research that would take into account indirect deaths and population losses, which could amount to another 100,000 victims (or over 200,000 total).
Little does Nebojsa Malic know. On 26 September 1997 Germany handed down the first Bosnian Genocide conviction. Nikola Jorgic was found guilty by the Düsseldorf, Germany, Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court) on 11 counts of genocide. His appeal was rejected by the German Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court) on 30 April 1999. He was sentenced to four terms of life imprisonment for his involvement in the Bosnian Genocide. Jorgic challenged the verdict at the European Court of Human Rights, arguing the German court did not have jurisdiction over the case. On July 12th 2007 - responding to Jorgic's appeal - European Court of Human Rights upheld Bosnia Genocide judgment and a life term for a Nicola Jorgic for committing acts of genocide in Bosnia during the ethnic cleansing in 1992.
In his "Matter of Opinion" article, unqualified Malic attacks the reality of Bosnian concentration camps by repeating old denial arguments produced by an obscure communist magazine known as the "Living Marxism." The magazine's self-proclaimed "investigative journalist" Thomas Deichmann (who had no training in journalism whatsoever) served as an apologist for the Serbian war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The same defunct pro-Milosevic magazine claimed that the pictures of emaciated Bosniaks and Croats in concentration camps were fake. The magazine failed to prove "nonexistence" of concentration camps in Bosnia and the ITN lawsuit forced them into bankruptcy.
The existence of the Serb-run concentration camps - in which Bosniaks and Croats were tortured and killed - was confirmed by numerous witnesses and survivors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Furthermore, the authenticity of concentration camp photographs was also confirmed by the UN-backed ICTY forensic experts. See our photo gallery: Remembering Concentration Camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Also see, Jerusalem Post remembers Bosniaks and Croats in Serb-operated Concentration Camps in Bosnia.
Considering that Nebojsa Malic refers to the U.N.-backed ICTY as the "Hague Inquisition" and "the illegitimate ICTY," we wonder what else can be said about Nebojsa Malic's credibility? What else can be said about a genocide denier; a man without credibility; a man blinded by a radical Serbian ultranationalism; a man without appreciation for historical facts; a man disconnected with reality. No wonder a long time Jewish friend of ours described Nebojsa Malic as "insensitive pig."
Opinions are cheap. Everybody has them, yet they are not worth much. On the other hand, Srebrenica genocide is not a matter of anybody's opinion; it's a judicial fact recognized first by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and subsequently by the International Court of Justice. End of story.
