UN’s top court clears Serbia of genocide
NETHERLANDS: The UN’s top court on Monday cleared Serbia of
direct involvement in genocide during the Bosnian war, but said Belgrade
did breach international law by failing to prevent the 1995 massacre at
Srebrenica.
“The court finds that Serbia has not committed genocide,”
International Court of Justice (ICJ) president Rosalyn Higgins told
journalists after the ruling, the ICJ’s first in a genocide case.
The United Nations’ court, set up to deal with legal disputes between
states, found that “massive killings” and atrocities occurred throughout
Bosnia with Bosnian Muslims being the victims in many cases.
However, “the evidence did not show that these terrible acts were
accompanied by the specific intent to destroy a group that is the
required proof of genocide,” said Higgins.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the
decision not to hand down a “collective punishment” and expressed hope
that it could lead to “the final reconciliation of the peoples” in the
region.
“We think it will contribute to close the page of history, that was
dramatic, very painful and very damaging for many, many people,” Solana
told a press conference in Brussels.
Bosnia had accused Serbia of masterminding a genocide through
widespread “ethnic cleansing” during the brutal 1992-95 war that left
more than 200,000 people dead.
The ICJ found only one act of genocide — the massacre at Srebrenica
of nearly 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serb troops — and said there was not
enough evidence to suggest Belgrade was directly responsible. However,
it ruled that Serbia had failed in its responsibility under the 1948
genocide convention to try and prevent the killings.
While the ICJ ruled that Belgrade had given “considerable military
and financial support” to the Bosnian Serb leadership, the court found
it did not mastermind the slaughter in Srebrenica.
“The decision to kill the adult male population of the Muslim
community was taken by some members of the main staff of the (Bosnian
Serb army) but without instructions from or effective control by
(Serbia),” the court said.
Higgins stressed the case had also “conclusively proved” that the
Serbian leadership, and former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic in
particular, “were fully aware ... that massacres were likely to occur”.
“It must have been clear that there was a serious risk of genocide in
Srebrenica,” she added.
Despite Serbia’s failure to intervene, the court ruled that Belgrade
will not have to pay any financial compensation to Sarajevo, which could
have run into hundreds of millions of euros (dollars).
Instead, it called on Belgrade to fully cooperate with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and
deliver, among others, Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who has been
indicted for genocide over the Srebrenica massacre and is thought to be
hiding in Serbia.
Serbian President Boris Tadic welcomed the judgement and called on
the Serbian parliament to pass a declaration “condemning the crime in
Srebrenica without any doubt”.
Tadic also accepted that Serbia would face “dramatic political and
economic consequences” if it failed to cooperate over Mladic.
There was a mixed reaction in Bosnia, with Bosnian Muslims and Croats
condemning the court’s ruling while Bosnian Serbs hailed the decision.
“Europe has once again proved that it is against Muslims,” said
Munira Subasic, who lost 22 family members in the Srebrenica massacre
and runs an organisation of survivors.
International law expert Geraldine Mattioli of Human Rights Watch
said the historic verdict “highlights the difficulty of proving genocide
which has a very high threshold”.
The Hague, Tuesday, AFP |