Serbian Authorities Denied War Crimes 110 Times in 2025, Report Finds

Serbian authorities denied war crimes from the 1990s at least 110 times in 2025, according to a new report titled "The State of Denial" by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR). The report documents instances of glorifying convicted war criminals and denying various atrocities, including the Račak massacre, the siege of Sarajevo, the existence of Prijedor concentration camps, and mass graves in Batajnica.

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In the report, at least 60 cases of glorifying 10 convicted war criminals were mapped, as well as at least 50 cases of various forms of denial of war crimes such as denial of the crime in Račak, the siege of Sarajevo, the existence of camps in Prijedor, as well as mass graves in Batajnica.

The Srebrenica genocide remains the most frequently denied crime, with at least 30 documented cases in 2025 alone. This year's report specifically highlights the death and funeral of Nebojša Pavković, a convicted war criminal, who was buried in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens at the New Cemetery in Belgrade. YIHR describes this as a dangerous precedent, as Pavković became the first war criminal from the 1990s to receive full state and military honors.

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This year's report is titled 'The State of Denial - Serbia 2025: War Criminals as Meritorious Citizens,' recalling an event that marked 2025 in terms of the scale of war crime denial and glorification of convicted war criminals – the death and funeral of Nebojša Pavković.

Sofija Todorović, director of YIHR, stated that the denial and relativization of war crimes have become a cornerstone of Serbian politics. She described it as a primary tool for inciting hatred, used as a nationalistic distraction that effectively creates divisions within society. Todorović emphasized that the past year clearly demonstrated how the denial and misuse of wartime history serve to dismantle the democratic capacity of Serbian society.

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The denial and relativization of war crimes have become one of the main pillars of politics in Serbia. It is the main tool for inciting hatred, which is shown as a nationalist tool for distracting the public because it, unfortunately, effectively creates divisions. Last year was a clear example that the goal of denial and abuse of the war past is actually the destruction of the democratic capacities of our society.

YIHR pointed to several examples of institutional obstruction in confronting the wartime past. These include hindering cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague regarding former Serbian Radical Party officials, refusing to recognize the Bosnian Court's verdict in the Tuzlanska Kapija case, and appointing Dragoslav Bokan, founder of the paramilitary unit "White Eagles," as chairman of the National Theater's management board in Belgrade. The initiative argues that the record levels of denial in 2025 are partly a response to the regime's repressive actions against mass citizen protests, with authorities instrumentalizing war and war crimes narratives to discredit political opponents. Todorović concluded that the report reveals how little genuine discussion about the past occurs, as there is almost no space for it, despite it being everyone's task to create such space.

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Obstruction of cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague in the case of several officials of the Serbian Radical Party, non-recognition of the BiH Court's verdict in the case of crimes at Tuzlanska Kapija, as well as the appointment of Dragoslav Bokana, founder of the paramilitary unit 'White Eagles,' as president of the Management Board of the National Theater in Belgrade are illustrative examples of institutional blockage of the process of confronting the war past in Serbia.