Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Montenegro

UN Court Says Serbia Not Responsible For Bosnian Genocide

A Bosnian woman prays at the graves of Srebrenica victims on February 25 (AFP)

February 26, 2007 -- The United Nations' highest court ruled today that Serbia was not directly responsible for genocide or conspiring to commit genocide during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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February 26, 2007

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Serbia should have made efforts to halt massacres in Bosnia, and said the killing of nearly 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serbs in Srebrenica amounted to genocide -- the first time the ICJ has called an event genocide.

However, The Hague-based court said that Bosnian Serb forces operated with a degree of independence from Belgrade, and that the Srebrenica killings "cannot be attributable" to Serbia.

Bosnia had accused Yugoslavia of genocide and demanded financial compensation, but the court said Belgrade would not have to pay reparations.

Earlier, Judge Roslyn Higgins said Montenegro is no longer part of the case because Serbia alone had assumed the "legal identity" of the former Yugoslavia.

The ruling comes with Serbia still facing challenges linked to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Closer ties with the European Union have been frozen over Belgrade's failure to hand over war crimes suspects for trial.

Serbia also faces final talks with the United Nations on the future of Kosovo, with the province heading toward near-statehood despite Serbian opposition.

(compiled from agency reports)

Srebrenica Remembered

Coffins of Srebrenica victims being prepared for burial in October (AFP)

THE WORST ATROCITY IN EUROPE SINCE WORLD WAR II: The July 1995 massacre of some 7,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb fighters near the UN-designated safe haven of Srebrenica is the worst atrocity of its kind in Europe since the end of World War II. Since the incident, the name Srebrenica has become practically synonomous with ethnic cleansing....(more)

See also:

Ten Years After Srebrenica

Coming To Grips With The UN's Failure At Srebrenica

Child Of Srebrenica Returns Home For Anniversary Of Massacre

The Film That Shook Belgrade

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The Truth-Teller: Natasa Kandic, Urging Serbs To Face The Past

More than a decade has passed since the end of the Balkan wars, where international observers say ethnic Serb fighters were responsible for the bulk of atrocities in the region, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. But despite the handover of major war-crimes suspects like Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, Belgrade remains reluctant to face the sins of the past. Lawyer Natasa Kandic has built an unpopular and often dangerous career out of pushing her country to face the truth about its history. More

Zoran Laketa lost his father and brother in the war

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, One Family, Three Armies, And A Lost Generation

Zoran Laketa knows what it's like to fire a gun and wonder if the soldier on the other side of the front line just might be his brother. Or his father. More

Angelina Jolie at the premiere of "In the Land of Blood and Honey" in Los Angeles in December

Jolie Earns Serbian Scorn For War Film

She’s known internationally as one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses; she’s won praise from governments and NGOs across the globe for her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations; and she’s often reckoned to be the world’s most beautiful woman. But Angelina Jolie has been going by a few other titles lately in the Balkans nation of Serbia, where prominent media outlets have taken to describing her as an American propagandist and all-around "jerk." More