On May 23, at 12:00 PM, church bells rang simultaneously in all churches across Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by the blessing of Serbian Patriarch Porfirije. This event coincided with the United Nations General Assembly's adoption of a resolution banning the denial of the Srebrenica genocide. The resolution had been preceded by public discourse, during which the Serbian Church expressed opposition to the resolution and warned against "attempts to revise history."

According to the Serbian Church's website, the Patriarch called on believers for "prayer, calm, mutual solidarity, and steadfastness in good deeds, despite the entirely false and unjust accusations they face at the UN."

The resolution, proposed by Germany and Rwanda, prohibits the denial of the Srebrenica genocide within the Republic of Srpska in 1995. It was adopted with 84 votes in favor, 19 against, and 68 abstentions. The document designates July 11 as the "International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica," to be observed annually.

During the 1992-1995 war, Srebrenica was occupied by Bosnian Muslims, who, according to some reports, killed several thousand Serbs. In 1993, the UN Security Council declared the town a demilitarized zone, but peacekeepers did not disarm the Bosniaks. In 1995, forces of the Republic of Srpska, led by General Ratko Mladić, entered the town and organized the evacuation of Muslims. According to Western media, this was accompanied by mass shootings, resulting in the deaths of up to 8,000 Bosniaks. Some historians argue that these reports were falsified to justify NATO intervention.

Photo: © V.Ivantsov / Lori Photobank