The Montenegrin parliament on Thursday evening dismissed Minister of Justice, Human and Minority Rights Vladimir Leposavic, who had previously publicly denied the genocide in Srebrenica, and adopted a resolution condemning the genocide committed in that eastern Bosnian town in the summer of 1995.

Both texts were adopted thanks to opposition votes. Minister Leposavic, who had downplayed the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica in a speech recently, and also challenged verdicts handed to Bosnian Serb commanders by the Hague war crimes tribunal, was removed from his post with 43 MPs in Montenegro’s 81-seat Parliament voting in favor of his dismissal.

The motion was proposed by Prime Minister, Zdravko Krivokapic. Leposavic had earlier said that he is “ready to acknowledge that genocide took place in Srebrenica only after this is unequivocally established,” adding that the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague had “lost its legitimacy.”

His statement was slammed by various human rights groups and politicians across the region, including Bosnia’s Mothers of Srebrenica association of survivors, which send a a letter to Montenegro MPs demanding Leposavic’s dismissal.

The Resolution on Srebrenica, proposed by MPs of the Bosniak Party, was supported by the entire opposition, with 55 MPs voting in favor, while MPs of the ruling pro-Serb Democratic Front voted against.

The resolution “strongly condemns” the genocide in Srebrenica, confirms that more than 8,000 Bosniak civilians had been killed in the aftermath of Srebrenica’s fall to Bosnian Serb army, and bans public denial of the Srebrenica genocide. The resolution also declared July 11, the anniversary of the Bosniak-held enclave’s fall – as Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Srebrenica.

MPs of Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) tipped the balance in the votes for both texts. Djukanovic, former president and prime minister of Montenegro, leads DPS which is the single largest party in Parliament with 30 seats. In May, DPS MPs decided to boycott the Parliament, citing “arrogance of the ruling coalition.” However, they ended their boycott last evening and returned to the plenary chamber to vote.