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World Court Reaffirms Genocide Case against Rump Yugoslavia
‘The court concludes that the application filed by Bosnia
and Herzegovina on the 20th of March 1993 is admissable.’
By Kieron Henderson
"The court concludes that the application filed by Bosnia and Herzegovina on the 20th of March 1993 is admissable," presiding judge Mohammed Bedjaoui told the court. The ruling came a year to the day after Bosnian Serbs overran the U.N. "safe area" of Srebrenica. An estimated 6,000 Muslim men and boys have been missing ever since, allegedly killed by forces under the control of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic.
Bosnia has said that 250,000 people, over five percent of its population, were killed in the bitter 3½-year war.
Bosnia's suit accuses Serbia of playing an active part in the Bosnian war and breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by arming and supporting separatist Serbs in Bosnia. Yugoslavia had objected to the case saying Belgrade had played no part in the Bosnian war and that Bosnia had seceded illegally from Yugoslavia and that its government did not represent all of Bosnia's people.
Bosnia has called for reparations from Yugoslavia, a prospect which could be distant as the World Court now goes forward to consider the merits of the case. "We are expecting further developments from both sides, which could take quite some time," World Court spokesman Arthur Witteveen said, declining to give a time-frame.
Bosnia's ambassador to the U.N. Muhamed Sacirbey welcomed the ruling as a victory for those who suffered in the Bosnian war and pointed the finger firmly at Belgrade. "Today's judgment is a victory for the Bosnian victims, for
the many who will never be found, for the many who will be forgotten. It's also a victory for all potential victims of genocide of ethnic cleansing, of rape, for once the genocide convention has been given life," he told reporters. "We will have a trial on the merits and I think the facts will show that what we have called ethnic cleansing is genocide being committed against the Bosnian people through acts and aggression of a neighbouring state -- the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," he said.
The next step would be to move on to a case. "We need now to move ahead with ascertaining the facts. Today is the one year anniversary of the slaughter at Srebrenica. We now have a chance to get to the real culprits.
"Yes Karadzic and Mladic and many others are responsible, but who instigated this war, who planned it, who executed it is a question also for the Belgrade authorities, they must face their state responsibilities," he told reporters." The case predates the establishment of the U.N. criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia, which is situated in another part of the Hague and has jurisdiction over individuals responsible for genocide and war crimes.
The World Court -- formally known as the International Court of Justice -- is the main judicial body of the United Nations. It settles disputes between states in accordance with international law.
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THE HAGUE, July 11 (Reuters) - The World Court on Thursday rejected objections by rump Yugoslavia to a genocide suit brought against Belgrade by Bosnia and said it had the jurisdiction to deal with the case. The U.N. court, which deals with states rather than individuals, was responding to preliminary objections filed by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which now comprises Serbia and Montenegro, against the 1993 genocide suit brought by Bosnia.
Berserkistan, July 10 · Tribiunal Prosecutes Karadzic, Mladic in Mock Trial
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