BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A top European human rights official has sharply criticized Serbia's defense ministry for promoting a book that attempts to deny that Bosnian Serb forces carried out a wartime attack that killed 71 people in the Bosnian town of Tuzla in 1995.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic said Wednesday that "propagating falsehoods and disinformation in a post-war context is a dangerous exercise, one that seriously undermines all efforts towards durable peace and reconciliation."

Mijatovic says the "Tuzla Gate Staged Tragedy" book goes against the facts established by international and local courts.

Local human rights groups and Bosniak officials have also criticized the Serbian ministry over Tuesday's promotional event. The ministry in the past also has published books by ex-officers convicted of war crimes in the Yugoslav wars.