Bosnian Serb leader's award angers families of 1995 massacre victims

Relatives of victims of a 1995 massacre in Bosnia have been angered after Bosnian Serbs leader Milorad Dodik, who denies the massacre was genocide, received the Srebrenica award.

Milorad Dodik, the President of Bosnia's autonomous Serb region, speaks at a press conference. Source: AAP

Authorities in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica angered relatives of the 1995 massacre there by handing its top municipal award on Sunday to the leader of the Bosnian Serbs Milorad Dodik.

The town's city hall under its Serb mayor Mladen Grujicic awarded the distinction, the Golden Plaque of Srebrenica, to Mr Dodik, president of the autonomous Serb region of Bosnia, Republika Srpska, the N1 television channel said.

The Mothers of Srebrenica, an organisation representing relatives of victims of the massacre, condemned the award to Mr Dodik.

"We are sickened to see this honour being given to a man who denies the genocide in Srebrenica," said the association's president, Hajra Catic.

Mr Dodik declines to describe the Srebrenica massacre as genocide. The Bosnian Serb commander behind it, Ratko Mladic, has been sentenced to life in jail, convicted of genocide and other war crimes.

Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic shouting at the presiding judge during the verdict hearing in his genocide trial, in The Hague, Netherlands. Source: AAP

Bosnian Serb forces killed 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica - the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

Mr Grujicic took over as mayor of the town from a Muslim after municipal elections in October 2016.