Serbia Found Not Guilty of Genocide, but Still Held Partially Responsible
By Amanda S. Coleman
A horrible genocide occurred in July 1995 in Srebrenica, a silver-mining town in Bosnia, though it received little attention from the American media. The massacre was the climax of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which began in 1992 and lasted until 1995. The brutal war was full of mass killings, rapes, and destruction as well as the displacement of many civilians.
Srebrenica was named a United Nations Safe Area, the first one of its kind, but despite this it became the site of the worst genocide in Europe since World War II. The Bosnian Serb army viciously took over the small town and its surrounding area. Over five days, the soldiers separated the Muslim families and then murdered over 7,000 men in fields, warehouses and schools. The Red Cross lists 7,079 as either dead or missing at Srebrenica, but estimates range as large as 10,000.
In the years following the treaty that led to the establishment of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian government was brought to court and accused of allowing and participating in the genocide. This case became the first time an entire state was ever taken to court over allegations of genocide. On Feb. 26, the International Court of Justice found Serbia not guilty, but said that they did not do enough to prevent the massacre of thousands of Muslims. Thus they determined that Serbia was not fully responsible for the massacre.
The court ruling of 13-2 took more than two hours to read, and determined that the Serbian government did not intentionally demolish Bosnia's Muslim population, so Bosnia was not entitled to billions of dollars in reparations. "Financial compensation is not the appropriate form of reparation for the breach of obligation to prevent genocide," stated the court in its report.
Haris Silajdzic, the Muslim representative of Bosnia's three-member presidency, told Bosnian television that Serbia must accept responsibility even though they were not convicted by the court. He also mentioned that Serbia violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, since they did not prevent mass ethnic killing nor did they attempt to punish those involved.
The results of the trial came as a great relief to those in Belgrade, Serbia's capital. Many had worried that taxes would go up and that the nation's economy would suffer if they had to pay reparations for the genocide.
Milan Nikolic, the director of the Center for Policy Studies in Belgrade, said that the decision was a compromise that reprimands Serbia, but also recognizes that they face other pressures. Nikolic believes that finding Serbia guilty would have been detrimental to Serbia's society and would boost the radicals there.
The court did, however, order Serbian leaders to hand over Ratko Mladic, the supposed mastermind behind the tragic killings. Mladic has been charged in the past for crimes against humanity, but never tried in court. His whereabouts are currently unknown, and many Bosnians feel that the West is unsympathetic to the victims of the massacre, as they have not located and arrested him yet.
Mladic has been on the run since 1995, when genocide charges were filed against him. It is believed that he is currently hiding somewhere in Serbia. His alleged accomplice, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is believed to be hiding in the Serb-controlled section of Bosnia.
Serbia was not found guilty of genocide, but it is not completely off the hook. The court still blamed Serbia for not taking enough action to stop the massacre, and it is demanding that Mladic be turned over. No matter who is ultimately held responsible, what happened in the town of Srebrenica in 1995 remains a chilling reminder of what can happen when one group of people is deemed less worthy than another.
Sources:
Bosnia: Local Trials Key as Hague Tribunal Winds Down. Human Rights Watch. <http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/02/12/bosher15296.htm>.
"Case Study:the Srebrenica Massacre, July 1995." Genercide Watch. <http://www.gendercide.org/case_srebrenica.html>.
Fleishman, Jeffrey, and Zoran Cirjakovic. "Serbia Cleared of Genocide." Los Angeles Times. <http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-serbia27feb27,1,7028759.story?coll=la-news-a_section&ctrack=1&cset=true>.
Srebrenica: a Cry From the Grave." PBS. <http://www.pbs.org/wnet/cryfromthegrave>.
Stojanovvic, Dusan. "Serbia's Lawyer Calls for Mladic Arrest." Guardian Unlimited.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6462561,00.html>.
