Policemen sentenced for song invoking war crimes

A statement said that two police officers from the southwestern city of Priboj were sentenced earlier this week to six months house arrest after being found guilty of singing the song which invokes the mass war crimes committed in Vukovar in Croatia and in Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The words of the song – Novi Pazar a new Vukovar, Sjenica a new Srebrenica – name two places in the Sandzak/Raska area of Serbia which have majority Muslim populations.

The two police officers, identified only by their initials, sang the song at a family gathering on January 1, 2022.

The Islamic Community in Serbia said the sentence is a positive step towards restoring trust in the judiciary and in encouraging all Bosniaks (Muslims) following similar events and the murder of Bosniaks by a policeman in 2023.