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Bosnia & Herzegovina

What is it all about?

Our news in Bosnia and Herzegovina, clear and analytic

Significant progress has been made in the pursuit of justice for crimes committed during the Bosnian War and the Srebrenica genocide. Large-scale atrocities such as ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, systematic rapes, and massacres have been subject to investigations, shedding light on the trials of those responsible. Judicial proceedings related to international crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War began in 2005 under the supervision of the War Crimes Department of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Office of the Prosecutor. However, despite nearly three decades of national and international prosecutions, including before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), divergent narratives, denial of crimes, and varying degrees of support for war criminals persist in Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighboring Serbia. While news coverage on this judicial front may be scarce, Justice Info continues to provide 100% independent information supported by the analysis of our experts in international justice.

In Serbia, denial of the Srebrenica genocide could lead to a new conflict. Photo: A person walks past a mural depicting the former military leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Ratko Mladic, in a street in Belgrade, Serbia.
30 years after: How denial can fuel a new conflict
11 July 2025 by Refik Hodžić
While the denial of the Srebrenica genocide has become official policy in Serbia and Republika Srpska it is now amplified by geopolitical alliances with countries that actively undermine international law, as Refik Hodžić explains.
30 years after Srebrenica: Serbia in genocide denial. Photo: In a Belgrade street, the following graffiti can be seen above a shop: 30 years after: Serbia in denial about genocide
10 July 2025 by Massimo Moratti
The general mood in Serbia is far from commemorative. For the Serbian authorities, all parties committed crimes during the war, so no one is guilty.
Srebrenica 30 years on: who was convicted of the genocide? Photo: in the foreground, the inscription ‘Srebrenica - Juli 1995’ and in the background, a veiled woman meditates in front of the memorial displaying the names of the victims. 30 years after: Who has been convicted of crimes in Srebrenica?
8 July 2025 by Nermina Kuloglija
A total of 54 people have been convicted for genocide and other crimes committed in Srebrenica. On the 30th anniversary of the genocide, Detektor, in collaboration with Justice Info, looks back at the main trials and judgments.
Stanisic and Simatovic trial - The 2 war criminals Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic at their appeal trial in The Hague (UN-IRMCT). After 30 years, the UN court’s last verdict on former Yugoslavia
2 June 2023 by Molly Quell
It took a record 20 years for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia – created in May 1993 and later replaced by “the Mechanism” – to complete the trial of two former Serbian spy masters. Arrested in 2003 [...]
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War Crimes in Bosnia - A woman walks among the graves of the Potocari cemetery in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
14 November 2022 by Massimo Moratti
Time is running out for war crimes prosecution in Bosnia “A race against time” is the title of a recent report by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) highlighting the delays in implementation of the country’s strategy for war crimes prosecution. The risk is to see the proce [...]
14 September 2021 by Julia Crawford
Bosnia genocide denial ban stirs tension The outgoing UN High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s rare use of his executive powers to ban genocide denial is causing political waves, including threats of “dissolution” from the Serb leader of the joint presidency. [...]
Stanisic and Simatovic at the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague
1 July 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg
Stanisic and Simatovic: slim convictions in longest running Yugoslav trial On June 30, a former head of Serbian state security and his subordinate were convicted for crimes in just one Bosnian town, and sentenced to 12 years in jail. But this retrial in the longest Yugoslav case before the UN court in Th [...]
Ratco Mladic
8 June 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg
26 years after the Bosnia war, Mladic case ends Today Ratko Mladic, 78, will hear the final decision in the case against him. In 2017 the former head of the Bosnian Serb army was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the UN International Criminal T [...]
Trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic
19 April 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg
Last trial, last chance at the U.N. court for the former Yugoslavia The retrial of two former Serbian spy masters is the last trial that the U.N. court for the former Yugoslavia and its successor institution, the Residual Mechanism, will hold about the 1990s conflicts that ravaged the former Yugos [...]
10 July 2020 by Hariz Halilovich
The Srebrenica genocide has changed me and my generation As the world commemorates the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnian-Australian scholar Hariz Halilovich reflects on how this defining event of the war in Bosnia has become a part of his personal and collective memory and ident [...]
9 July 2020 by Srđan Šušnica
The legacy of Srebrenica and the bitter victories of genocide 25 years ago, about 8,000 men were murdered in and around the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. This was the largest massacre in post-WWII Europe. The U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ruled it was genocide. [...]
7 July 2020 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
25 years after Srebrenica, assessing justice and genocide denial This July 11 marks a quarter century since the massacre of nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the eve of the commemorations, our partners at Asymmetrical Haircuts are exposing the li [...]
20 March 2019 by AFP
Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic's sentence increased to life A maximum penalty sentence concludes one of the biggest, longest and most important cases of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Judges of the UN mechanism that deals with the ICTY remaining cases [...]
19 March 2019 by Stephanie van den Berg
Karadzic: last chapter of a mega trial at the Yugoslav tribunal On Wednesday, Bosnian Serb wartime political leader Radovan Karadzic, 73, will hear if his 40-year-jail term is confirmed, increased to a life sentence as prosecutors demand or if he gets the retrial his lawyers are seeking. This [...]
29 October 2018 by Stephanie van den Berg
Damaging power struggle engulfs the former ICTY Judges at the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT), the successor institution of the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, have become embroiled in a very public power struggle which is already impact [...]
3 January 2018 by Pierre Hazan, JusticeInfo editorial advisor and professor at Neuchâtel University
As Yugoslav tribunal closes, a look back at its history In his last speech to the UN Security Council on December 6, 2017, ICTY President Carmel Agius expressed satisfaction that out of 161 persons indicted, all have been tried or have died, representing a 100% success rate, although t [...]
3 January 2018 by Pierre Hazan, JusticeInfo editorial advisor and professor at Neuchâtel University
How the ICTY has changed our world The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) closed its doors on December 31, 2017, after working for 24 years, issuing 161 indictments and nearly as many judgments, hearing 4,600 witnesses over 10,800 days [...]
21 December 2017 by Human Rights Watch
How the Yugoslav Tribunal Made History, according to HRW Bullet holes, bloodstains and brain matter marked the walls of an empty barn, a crime scene processed to document the worst crime in Europe since the Second World War: the deliberate killings of more than 7,000 men and boys from t [...]
11 December 2017 by Pierre Hazan, JusticeInfo editorial advisor and professor at Neuchâtel University
Was the destruction of Old Mostar Bridge a war crime? To what extent does the destruction of an architectural masterpiece constitute a war crime if that masterpiece is also used for military purposes? What, too, if the destruction of such a monument, like the Old Mostar Bridge, cause [...]
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