A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is seeking action, including possible sanctions, against Bosnian Serb officials after police began questioning staff at Bosnia’s Srebrenica Memorial Center following the publication of a new report showing a marked jump in cases of genocide denial.
Police from Republika Srpska, the Serb entity in Bosnia, questioned 26 current and former employees and associates of the Memorial Center on July 31, a day after the center published its latest report on genocide denial, which documented an increase of more than 50 percent in recorded cases compared with the previous reporting period.
Senators and House representatives from both sides of the aisle issued a statement saying they were “deeply concerned” by the questioning and urged authorities to ensure that the Memorial Center could operate free from intimidation.
“The scale and timing of these actions are troubling, particularly because the work of the Memorial Center is central to preserving the truth, honoring the victims, and defending human rights,” the bipartisan group said, calling on US President Donald Trump’s administration to restore sanctions on Republika Srpska officials.
International and Bosnian courts have ruled that the killing of more than 8,300 Bosniak men and boys from Srebrenica and the surrounding area by Bosnian Serb forces after they captured the UN-protected enclave in July 1995 constituted genocide.
Genocide denial and the glorification of convicted war criminals have persisted in Republika Srpska for decades, including among the entity’s highest political officials.
Edin Ikanovic, one of the authors of the Memorial Center’s report on genocide denial, said seven people had been questioned so far, while others, including himself, were still waiting to receive summonses.
“It is becoming clearer that this is a political game, probably initiated by senior political officials,” Ikanovic told RFE/RL.
“We have seen attacks on the report and its authors for years. We know our work makes some people uncomfortable, especially because it documents patterns of genocide denial. These reports will remain an important archive for future researchers,” he added.
The District Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina told RFE/RL that the questioning is part of a case examining allegations concerning the Memorial Center’s financial operations in 2022.
It said no formal investigation had been opened and that current and former employees were being questioned as witnesses while prosecutors gathered documents and other evidence before deciding whether to take further action.
The Memorial Center has repeatedly said the institution has faced political and institutional pressure from Republika Srpska authorities because of its work documenting the genocide and tracking genocide denial.
The entity’s political leadership has for years rejected court findings that the Srebrenica killings constituted genocide.
“The House and Senate have been unequivocal: the Srebrenica massacre was genocide. More than 30 years later, we have a solemn responsibility to remember the victims, stand with their families, and ensure that this tragic history is neither denied nor erased,” the group of lawmakers said in their statement.
They called on the Trump administration to reinstate sanctions on Republika Srpska officials that had been imposed by the United States and lifted in October 2025.
They also urged the administration to enforce provisions of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides for sanctions against people found to be undermining security, stability, or democratic institutions in the Western Balkans.
US sanctions on former Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik, members of his family, several close associates and related companies had originally been imposed over actions Washington said undermined the Dayton peace accord, constitutional order, and the Bosnia’s territorial integrity.
They were lifted in October 2025, two months after he was removed from office following a criminal conviction by Bosnia’s state court for defying the decisions of the Office of the High Representative, the international body overseeing civilian implementation of the 1995 Dayton agreement that ended the Bosnian War.
The Memorial Center was opened in 2003 at the site of the former UN base in Potočari to commemorate the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, the only genocide officially recognized in Europe since World War II.
More than 50 people have been convicted of genocide and other war crimes committed in and around Srebrenica, including former Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadzic and former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, both of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment.
In May 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring July 11 the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica. The resolution also condemns genocide denial and the glorification of people convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Genocide denial and the glorification of convicted war criminals became criminal offenses in Bosnia-Herzegovina in July 2021.
