A Bosnian Serb leader has called the Srebrenica massacre – in which more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered – “a fabricated myth”.

Milorad Dodik, who heads Bosnia’s multi-ethnic joint presidency, told a conference discussing war crimes that the 1995 massacre was “something that does not exist.”

His comments defy international court rulings that say genocide was committed in the eastern Bosnian enclave during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

Mr Dodik said: “Bosniaks did not have a myth so they decided to construct one around Srebrenica.”

The Srebrenica massacre was one of the bloodiest slaughters in Europe since the Second World War.

Some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed and their bodies dumped in mass graves in the days after Bosnian Serb forces captured the eastern town of Srebrenica on 11 July 1995.

It has been recognised as genocide by two international courts and Mr Dodik’s comments have been condemned by Muslims in Bosnia.

“Srebrenica is a court-proven fact, just as is a court-proven fact that the military and political leadership of the Bosnian Serbs have been convicted of a joint criminal enterprise and genocide,” said Ramiz Salkic, a Bosnian Muslim official.

“Those are historic facts, not a myth. And that is what Dodik should tell his people.”

In March, former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian conflict.

His crimes included extermination and murder after he orchestrated massacres and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian towns.

Mladic was removed from court in The Hague prior to the verdicts being read out after he made an angry outburst denying the charges, shouting “this is all lies, you are all liars”.

Mr Dodik is also currently subject to US sanctions for “actively obstructing” the Dayton Accords, the peace agreement which ended the Bosnian war.

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