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A Notable Ruling at The Hague
General; Posted on: 2007-03-21
[ Printer friendly / Instant flyer ]
Serbs not guilty of genocide
Srdja Trifkovic
In a landmark case that put a nation on trial for genocide for the
first time in history, Serbia has been found not guilty by the
International Court of Justice at The Hague. "The court finds that the
acts of genocide at Srebrenica cannot be attributed to [Serbia's]
state organs," said the ICJ president, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, in the
ruling made public on February 26. She said it could also not be
established that Serbia had been complicit by supplying aid to the
Bosnian Serbs in the summer of 1995, when the killings at Srebrenica
took place. Reflecting the complexities of the case, the 16 judges
deliberated for 10 months. The court's decisions are binding, without
appeal, and enforceable by the UN Security Council.
The Muslim authorities in Sarajevo instituted proceedings against
Serbia at the ICJ in March 1993, charging the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (as it was then) of violating the 1948 U.N. Genocide
Convention. The case continued after the end of the Bosnian war in
October 1995 and the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, even
though the Republika Srpska (RS)-a constituent Bosnian
entity-subsequently objected to the charge being brought on behalf of
"Bosnia-Herzegovina" as a whole. The RS authorities disputed the
legitimacy of the filing of the Bosnian application to the Court
because it had not been ratified by the post-Dayton presidency, where
the Bosnian Serbs would have been able to veto it.
Most major media depositors in the bank of collective Serbian guilt
have tried to spin the verdict. The New York Times led the pack, with
Marlise Simons' February 27 headline, "Court Declares Bosnia Killings
Were Genocide" and the subhead, "Serbia is Faulted but Cleared of the
Crime." The article's lead sentence asserted that the International
Court of Justice "for the first time called the massacre of Bosnian
Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 an act of genocide"; the paper repeated
the claim in an editorial on March 5. In a follow-up article, Simons
repeated the claim: "The judges ruled that Bosnian Serb troops
committed genocide against Muslims in 1995 in Srebrenica."
Continue
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/newsviews.cgi/The%
2007 European Americans United.
A Notable Ruling at The Hague
General; Posted on: 2007-03-21
[ Printer friendly / Instant flyer ]
Serbs not guilty of genocide
Srdja Trifkovic
In a landmark case that put a nation on trial for genocide for the
first time in history, Serbia has been found not guilty by the
International Court of Justice at The Hague. "The court finds that the
acts of genocide at Srebrenica cannot be attributed to [Serbia's]
state organs," said the ICJ president, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, in the
ruling made public on February 26. She said it could also not be
established that Serbia had been complicit by supplying aid to the
Bosnian Serbs in the summer of 1995, when the killings at Srebrenica
took place. Reflecting the complexities of the case, the 16 judges
deliberated for 10 months. The court's decisions are binding, without
appeal, and enforceable by the UN Security Council.
The Muslim authorities in Sarajevo instituted proceedings against
Serbia at the ICJ in March 1993, charging the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (as it was then) of violating the 1948 U.N. Genocide
Convention. The case continued after the end of the Bosnian war in
October 1995 and the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, even
though the Republika Srpska (RS)-a constituent Bosnian
entity-subsequently objected to the charge being brought on behalf of
"Bosnia-Herzegovina" as a whole. The RS authorities disputed the
legitimacy of the filing of the Bosnian application to the Court
because it had not been ratified by the post-Dayton presidency, where
the Bosnian Serbs would have been able to veto it.
Most major media depositors in the bank of collective Serbian guilt
have tried to spin the verdict. The New York Times led the pack, with
Marlise Simons' February 27 headline, "Court Declares Bosnia Killings
Were Genocide" and the subhead, "Serbia is Faulted but Cleared of the
Crime." The article's lead sentence asserted that the International
Court of Justice "for the first time called the massacre of Bosnian
Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 an act of genocide"; the paper repeated
the claim in an editorial on March 5. In a follow-up article, Simons
repeated the claim: "The judges ruled that Bosnian Serb troops
committed genocide against Muslims in 1995 in Srebrenica."
Continue
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/newsviews.cgi/The%
2007 European Americans United.
