A Bosnian Serb leader has falsely claimed that the Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed, is a “fabricated myth”.

Milorad Dodik, who heads Bosnia’s multi-ethnic joint presidency, said the massacre was “something that does not exist”, at a conference discussing war crimes committed during the Bosnian conflict.

Bosnian Serb troops killed the Muslim men and boys after capturing the eastern town of Srebrenica on 11 July 1995.

The victims’ bodies were thrown into mass graves in the following days.

The International Court of Justice and the UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague have ruled that the killings were genocide.

Bosnia: the nation left behind Show all 18 1 /18 Bosnia: the nation left behind Bosnia: the nation left behind A women in the tram in Bascarjija, the old town in Sarajevo. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A volunteer is searching in lake Perucac in eastern Bosnia for remains of the victims of the genocide in Visegrad, where during the war in 1992 some 3000 Muslim men were killed by Bosnian-Serb forces and were thrown into the river ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind The remains of a serb mortar shell can be seen on the pavement in the city center of Sarajevo ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Potraits of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica can be seen in the office of the foundation "Srebrenica mothers" in Tuzla. Currently there are still estimated 3500 vistims of the genocide in Srebrenica missing. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind The morgue in the forensic center of the ICMP , the international commission on missing persons, in Tuzla ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Scene during a live-concert of the balkan-ska Band "Kulturshock". ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Juso Mehanovic, a survivor of Srebrenica, in his house in the refugee camp in Spionica. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind The skeletal remains of a victim of the genocide in Bosnia are to be seen in the forensic center of the ICMP ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Construction work is going on in a suburb of Sarajevo while many building still remain signed by the war. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Two days before the mass funeral in Potocari for the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, the coffins with the dead bodies are brought to the Memorial Center in Potocari in Trucks from Sarajevo ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Refugees in the refugee camp in Spionica ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind One day before the mass burial for the victims of the genocide of Srebrenica, a men mourns in the memorial room in Potocari ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A volunteer is searching in lake Perucac in eastern Bosnia for remains of the victims of the genocide in Visegrad ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A former mass grave in the area of Salasnica near Srebrenica ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A potrait of Milos MIlanovic, a former soldier for the bosnian serb army, who lives in Srebrenica and denies that the genocide has taken place in Srebrenica. He instead claims the Muslims have killed themselves ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Scene on a public lake in the north-bosnian town of Tuzla. In Tuzla, serb, croats and muslims used to live together peacefully all the time throughout the war. It was one of the few big cities in Bosnia that remained under government control during the whole war ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Each year at the end of July, young people from both sides of Mostar, jump from the Stari Grad, the Old Bridge ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Suhra Malic, a survivor of Srebrenica, has lost 2 sons due to the genocide ANDY SPYRA

“[Bosnian Muslims] did not have a myth, so they decided to construct one around Srebrenica,” Mr Dodik said on Friday.

Radovan Karadzic, the political leader of Bosnia’s Serbs in the 1992-95 war and Ratko Mladic, who served as the group’s military leader, have both been sentenced to life in prison for the genocide and other war crimes.

More than 100,000 people died in the Bosnian conflict, while millions were left homeless.

Despite this Mr Dodik has repeatedly downplayed the Srebrenica massacre, which was one of the most brutal slaughters in Europe since the Second World War.

Other Bosnian Serb politicians have also denied that genocide was ever committed, including Mladen Grujicic, the current mayor of Srebrenica.

Bosnian Serbs have also set up a commission aimed at establishing the “truth” of what occurred.

Muslims in Bosnia have condemned Mr Dodik’s comments.

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“Srebrenica is a court-proven fact, just as [it] 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.”

Over 6,600 Srebrenica victims have been identified but experts are still excavating the victims’ bodies from hidden mass graves.

Researchers have used DNA analysis to put the bodies back together after perpetrators, trying to hide their war crimes, scattered victims’ remains across many miles.