A Cry from the Grave tells the story of the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, in which the Bosnian Serb army killed an estimated 7,000 Bosnian Muslims.

It follows hour by hour the story of the killings. Through the testimony of survivors and relatives of those who died it explores the pain felt when no one is brought to justice.There are interviews with investigators from the UN-sponsored court at The Hague and from the UN special prosecutor.

But the underlying message of the film is bleak indeed – no matter what is done, it will never be enough. A Cry from the Grave has won numerous prizes. It has been shown at the UN, and it was used during a war crimes trial at The Hague.

The justice or injustice of a cause may in large part be measured by the ethics displayed by those who uphold it. The ongoing campaign to whitewash the former regimes of Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic and to justify their genocidal crimes against the Bosniaks is about as unworthy a cause as it is possible to imagine; consequently, the people who wage it do so in the most dishonest and malicious manner possible. Their campaign is fundamentally an expression of hatred – for Bosniaks, Croats, Albanians, anti-fascist Serbs, Jews and others who opposed the genocide. So their tactics are of the most hateful kind, involving systematic character assassination and racist and anti-Semitic abuse of those who speak about the genocide and the ideology that gave rise to it.

Continue reading on:

http://greatersurbiton.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/anti-semitism-racism-and-srebrenica-genocide-denial/

Source: Originally Published on March 24, 2011 in Greater Surbiton Blog, by Dr. Marko Attila Hoare.

The justice or injustice of a cause may in large part be measured by the ethics displayed by those who uphold it. The ongoing campaign to whitewash the former regimes of Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic and to justify their genocidal crimes against the Bosniaks is about as unworthy a cause as it is possible to imagine; consequently, the people who wage it do so in the most dishonest and malicious manner possible. Their campaign is fundamentally an expression of hatred – for Bosniaks, Croats, Albanians, anti-fascist Serbs, Jews and others who opposed the genocide. So their tactics are of the most hateful kind, involving systematic character assassination and racist and anti-Semitic abuse of those who speak about the genocide and the ideology that gave rise to it.

  ‘The Jews have had a disproportionate impact’

Most recently, a libellous and racist hate-campaign has been waged by the genocide-deniers - above all, Islamophobic far-right elements in North America - against members of the Institute for the Research of Genocide, Canada (IRGC), which among other things, campaigns against Bosnia genocide-denial. This campaign has accelerated following the decision last month of the Canadian authorities to deny entry into Canada of Srdja Trifkovic, a man who regularly engages in hate-speech against Islam and Muslims. Trifkovic had been invited by a Serbian students’ organisation at the University of British Columbia to give a speech at one of their meetings, but was barred from Canada because he had been an official of the wartime regime of ‘Republika Srpska’, hence ‘for being a proscribed senior official in the service of a government that, in the opinion of the minister, engages or has engaged in terrorism, systematic or gross human rights violations, or genocide, a war crime or a crime against humanity within the meaning of subsections 6 (3) to (5) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.’

[I had personally written to Professor Stephen J. Toope, President of UBC, urging him to prevent Trifkovic from giving his talk. While I respect the right of genocide deniers to engage in genocide denial, I draw the line at allowing inciters of hatred against ethnic or religious groups to speak at universities, as I consider this an infringement on the rights of staff and students at the universities in question to work and study free from the fear of persecution or harassment. However, it was the Canadian authorities, not the UBC, that ultimately prevented Trifkovic from speaking.]

Supporters of Trifkovic responded to their setback with a campaign of personal defamation directed against members of the IRGC. The anti-Muslim hate-site ‘Gates of Vienna’ denounced the IRGC as ‘Jew-haters’, though without being able to quote a single anti-Semitic statement made by any of its members. This smear was a repeat of one levelled by Trifkovic himself against Professor Emir Ramic, the IRGC’s chairman, on the website of an extreme right-wing organisation, ‘The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies’, run by former Canadian ambassador James Bissett. Trifkovic accused Ramic of being a ’Jew-hating jihadist’ - again, without being able to produce a single piece of evidence that Ramic was either anti-Semitic, or that he supported jihad [since the articles in question are extremely libellous, I'm not going to link to them].

The basis for the accusation was the claim that Ramic was a member of the editorial board of a Bosnian journal called ‘Korak‘, that has published some viciously anti-Israel articles. The articles in question were, indeed, viciously anti-Israel. But Ramic is not a member of the editorial board of the journal in question, so the accusation is totally false. The second basis for the accusation is that Korak‘s editor, Asaf Dzanic, is a member of the IRGC’s board of directors. Yet, as anyone can see from the IRGC’s website, its board of directors is very large and diverse, numbering over 120, and includes several eminent Jewish members, including the famous Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Most of these members, including Dzanic, are in the capacity of an ‘International Team of Experts’. The website also carries a powerful defence of the IRGC from the smears of Trifkovic and the ‘Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies’, written by the Israeli writer Marjan Hajnal – also a member of the IRGC’s board of directors. The smearing of the entire institute as ‘Jew-hating’ and its director as ‘jihadi’ is, therefore, a desperate clutching at straws on the part of the Srebrenica deniers.

The ‘Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies’ has also accused Ramic and the IRGC of ‘Holocaust denial’. Again, not a single piece of evidence was produced to substantiate this very serious charge. In fact, the charge of ‘Holocaust denial’ was made after the IRGC had weeks earlier published, and prominently displayed on its website, an article marking Holocaust Memorial Day and paying tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, which made clear ‘The Holocaust of World War ll was the despicable, systematic process of torturing and murdering nearly six million European Jews, by German Nazis. Approximately two-thirds of nine million European Jews were murdered throughout that particular Holocaust.’

The irony of such smears is all the greater in that Trifkovic himself, unlike Ramic, is on record as having made anti-Semitic statements. Trifkovic has stated:

‘To claim that the traditional Right is “anti-Jewish” is to imply that it is gripped by an irrational prejudice. Such accusation is untrue and unfair.

It is true, however, that the traditional Right is inevitably antipathetic to certain modes of thought and feeling, to a peculiar Weltanschauung and the resulting forms of public and intra-communal discourse, which are quite properly perceived as specifically Jewish.

Historically, Talmudic Judaism’s insistence on the Jews’ racial uniqueness — emphasized by the ritual and dietary laws of Talmudic Judaism and on its view of Christians as idolaters — has ensured that a Jew steeped in his own tradition could not view traditional European or American conservatism with sympathy. His tradition was a form of elaborate survival mechanism based on the zero-sum view of a world divided into “us” and “them.” The Gentile was “the Other” ab initio and for ever.

In addition, since the late 1800’s the Jews have had a disproportionate impact on a host of intellectual trends and political movements which have fundamentally altered the civilization of Europe and its overseas offspring in a manner deeply detrimental to the family, nation, culture, racial solidarity, social coherence, tradition, morality and faith. Spontaneously or deliberately, those ideas and movements — Marxism (including neoconservatism as the bastard child of Trotskyism), Freudianism, Frankfurt School cultural criticism, Boasian anthropology, etc. — have eroded “the West” to the point where its demographic and cultural survival is uncertain. The erosion is continuing, allegedly in the name of propositional principles and universal values, and it is pursued with escalating ferocity.’

 ‘Even when Jews don’t come out smelling like roses’

The extreme right-wing and viciously racist and Islamophobic American commenter Julia Gorin has apologised for Trifkovic’s anti-Semitism in the following manner:

‘While virgin eyes (mainstream readers and anyone not experienced in sorting out the intricacies and boundaries of what is and isn’t OK to say about Jews) will read the paragraphs as “anti-Semitic,” the views expressed aren’t unlike what I and any number of other Jewish conservatives have written in an effort to tame the Jewish predisposition toward cynicism about, and dismantling of, the traditional values of, yes, white-established societies… It’s not reading that would be palatable to the mainstream, but conservative readers — including Jewish conservatives — are known to have a slightly higher tolerance for truth, even when Jews don’t come out smelling like roses.’

Thus, Trifkovic and Gorin have no problem with anti-Semitism, but do have a problem with those, like Ramic and the IRGC, that oppose Srebrenica genocide denial. Gorin’s apologia for Trifkovic’s anti-Semitism was made in the course of an article denying the genocide at Srebrenica. Again, unlike Ramic, Gorin is an unabashed anti-Albanian, anti-Croat and anti-Bosniak racist. Commenting on a recent obituary of the Croatian journalist Chris Cviic, a long-standing resident of the UK and recipient of the OBE, which stated ‘He is survived by his widow, Celia, and a son and a daughter’, Gorin commented ‘Yayyyy! More little Ustashas running rampant in the West.’ In response to a story in the British rag-sheet The Daily Star about the alleged activities of Kosovo Albanian immigrants in the UK, entitled ‘Kosovan squatters stole my loo’, Gorin commented ‘Ah, the Albanian specialty: invading someone’s home and stripping it bare. (See Kosovo, Serbia.) Then they get to do it again at the UK government’s expense. What the hell are they going to do with the toilet? Do they even know what it’s for?’ Racists like Gorin typify the Srebrenica deniers. Another Srebrenica genocide denier, Nebojsa Malic of Antiwar.com, has also made racist statements about Albanians, describing them as ‘medieval barbarians‘.

Srebrenica denial and anti-Semitism frequently go hand in hand. The anti-Semite, Holocaust denier and associate of Julian Assange who goes by the name of ‘Israel Shamir’ is a Srebrenica denier and has written ‘Many war atrocity stories are just stories – from Srebrenica to Kosovo “killing fields”, from Saddam Hussein’s WMD to Belgian babies on German bayonets of the WWI, from Kuwait’s incubator to anti-communist inventions of the Black Book.’ Shamir was one of a group of Srebrenica deniers, including Edward S. Herman and Diana Johnstone, who wrote an open letter to the Serbian parliament calling on them not to recognise the Srebrenica massacre.

    ‘This self-serving Jew’

Srebrenica genocide denial tends to go hand-in-hand with the denial of the genocidal crimes carried out by Serbian Nazi quislings and collaborators during World War II. When the Milosevic and Karadzic regimes waged their war for a Great Serbia in the 1990s, a major element in their propaganda was the equation of the entire Croat and Bosniak nations with the Ustashas (Croatian fascists) of World War II. The reality was that the Serb, Croat and Bosniak nations during World War II were all divided between anti-fascists and quislings or collaborators. Thus, the Nazi-quisling camp included Croat Ustashas, Serb Nedicites and Ljoticites and Muslim soldiers of the SS Handzar Division, while the anti-fascist Yugoslav Partisans comprised Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks and others. But the Great Serbian nationalists of the 1990s waged a hate-campaign against Croats and Bosniaks, seeking to equate the entire Croat and Bosniak nations with the Ustashas.

One man who saw through this propaganda early on was the Jewish American medical doctor Philip J. Cohen. As Philip told me when I met him back in the mid-1990s in the US, he approached the Bosnian genocide as a Jew who knew the history of the Holocaust and the failure of the world to prevent it, and felt strongly that something similar should not be allowed to happen again. He was not in the slightest bit taken in by the Serb-nationalist campaign to equate all Croats and Bosniaks with the Ustashas, and responded to it by researching and writing the book Serbia’s Secret War. This book traced the history of anti-Semitism in Serbia and the role of Serbian quislings and collaborators in the Holocaust. It therefore demolished the myth that in the former Yugoslavia, it had only been Croats and Bosniaks who had produced quislings, or engaged in anti-Jewish actions. And although Cohen was not a professional historian or academic, the book is very good.

Needless to say, Cohen does not in any way deny the crimes of the Croatian Ustashas against Jews, Serbs or others. But his exposure of the crimes of Serbian quislings against Jews in World War II led to his being the subject of an anti-Semitic denunciation by a Serb nationalist writer called Vasilije Todorovic, who published an open letter in 1996 claiming (falsely) that ‘Cohen, this self-serving Jew, has even managed to condone the killing of 60,000 Jews in WW II, by the very Croatians from whom he receives his major support. I believe you Jews call this, Chutzpah!’ And ‘How astonishing that for 46 years the Roman Church and its Vatican failed to recognize Israel. Now this upstart Jew, Philip Cohen, defends their actions.’ Todorovic extended his attack on Cohen into a general diatribe against Jews: ‘There are no Spielberg movies made about these brave Serbian families who saved Jews. At the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, Serbs were totally ignored as the Museum honored a Roman Catholic woman for saving the lives of 6 Jews.’ Furthermore, ‘Cohen omits the documents that reveal that Jews also joined the Ustasha and the Partisans and murdered numerous loyalists Serbs. In Cohen’s personal secret war against the Serbs, no mention is made that many of the Croatian Nazi officers had Jewish wives.’ And so on.

Todorovic’s article was written fifteen years ago, but the attacks on Cohen for having the temerity to write of the activities of Serbian Nazi quislings have continued. Two years ago, the amateur Serbian-American historian Carl Savich attempted to smear Cohen by claiming that he hadn’t even written his own book:

‘Philip J. Cohen is a medical doctor, a dermatologist with no background or training in history, let alone the World War II history of Serbia. Moreover, he has no knowledge of the Serbian, Croatian, or Bosnian languages. How could he have written Serbia’s Secret War, which required a detailed and exhaustive analysis and research of Serbian language documents? Such a massive undertaking would require a thorough knowledge of the historical debates and nuances involed in the issues examined. Cohen couldn’t have written it. And he didn’t write it. Cohen was the front, the front man in a Croatian propaganda hoax. Because Croatia was a satellite, proxy, and client state of the U.S., Cohen received U.S. support and backing. The screed buttressed the anti-Serbian U.S. infowar and propagnada war.’

Savich claimed that Serbia’s Secret War had actually been written by a Croatian historian called Ljubica Stefan. He offered not a shred of evidence for his allegations.

I can personally testify that Cohen is the author of Serbia’s Secret War. At the time he was writing it, I met him at a seminar at Yale University, where I was studying at the time, and he asked me to assist him in working on the manuscript to his book. Consequently, I read his manuscript, made comments on it, then stayed with him at his home for two or three days and helped him work through some of the documents he had yet to analyse. Although Philip did not read Serbo-Croat himself, he told me he had benefited from a lot of assistance, in translating documents, from the Croatian writer Anto Knezevic. Having spoken with him at length and seen his library and archive, I know for a fact that Savich’s allegations are complete fabrications.

  ‘Other prominent Jews would apply the same techniques against the Serbian Orthodox population’

Savich is not a real historian and has no qualifications in history other than a Master’s degree, so it may not be surprising that his treatment of historical fact is less than professional. But he is also himself ready to engage in anti-Semitic writing. Here is a comment he wrote on the history of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia:

‘One consequence of the Austrian occupation of Bosnia was that Sarajevo and other Bosnian cities were flooded with over 9,500 bureaucrats and administrators and commercial and trade interests. Many of these were Ashkenazi Jews. Austrian Jews sought to benefit from the annexation and occupation of Bosnia. Racism and bigotry are based in self-interest. The racist attack against Orthodox Serbs by the Jew Freundlich can be explained in this way. His moral outrage is selective and self-interested. Austrian Jews would gain economic advantages by the Austrian occupation of Bosnia. Remarkaby, Roy Gutman, Anthony Lewis, Susan Sontag, James Rubin, and other prominent Jews would apply the same techniques against the Serbian Orthodox population, i.e, professing a disingenuous concern for the human rights of the Albanians and Bosnian Muslims, at the same time ignoring the genocide and repression of the Palestinian population by the zealous Zionist nationalist government in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which were being illegaly settled by Jewish settlers. There was little concern for the human rights of the Palestinians, Kurds, or Basques. There is a dictum: Follow the money trail. Self-interest goes a long way in explaining the bias. Thus, under Austrian occupation, there were thousands of occupation administrators and bureaucrats, many of whom were Jewish.’

Savich is himself an apologist for the Nazi-quisling Nedic regime that ran German-occupied Serbia, claiming that it had ‘no choice in the matter of its collaboration’, that it was no different from the Judenraete in occupied Poland and the Soviet Union, and that it played no role in running concentration camps. All these claims are false.

Savich’s smear, of course, targeted not only Cohen, but also Ljubica Stefan. Stefan is listed among the ‘Righteous among Nations’ at Israel’s Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem, as a Croatian who protected Jews during the Holocaust. This is what Savich has to say about her (again, without producing any evidence whatsoever):

‘Although she lived most of her life in Serbia, she was an ethnic Croatian. She lived and worked in Belgrade. She knew the Serbian language. She had access to Serbian documents and archives. Also, as a hack historian, a pseudo-historian,  someone below the radar, she did not have to concern herself about academic or scholarly accountability. Moreover, everything that appears in the Cohen text also appears in propaganda screeds published by or attributed to Stefan when she worked for the Croatian Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stefan worked closely with Croatian ultra-nationalist Franjo Tudjman in rehabilitating the Ustasha regime and engaged in historical revisionism by attempting to equate Serbia’s role during the Holocaust with that of Croatia’s Ustasha NDH government.’

So Savich, who has no academic qualifications beyond a Master’s degree and who is an apologist for the Nazi-quisling Nedic regime, accuses Stefan, who was a tenured professor at a Belgrade faculty and who actually protected Jews during the Holocaust, of being a ‘pseudo-historian’ guilty of ‘historical revisionism.

  ‘Agent of imperialism’

Anti-fascist Serbs, as much as non-Serbs, can become victims of racism when they oppose the activities of the Serbian extreme-right. The Serbian human-rights activist Sonja Biserko of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, a frequent victim of physical harassment and defamation at the hands of Serbian fascist thugs and their rag-sheets, is periodically denounced by them as a ‘lesbian’. But she has also been denounced for supposedly not being of pure Serbian racial stock. Thus, an anonymous Srebrenica genocide denier – whose genocide denial subsequently led to him being banned by the proprietor of Modernity Blog – challenged my description of her as ‘Serbian’ in the following terms: ‘Serbian, eh? Funny thing is, Sonja Biserko keeps her biographical details well hidden. A wiki page lists her as Croatian, whereas a poster on some forum claims that: her brother was a member of Croatian troops, so called “Zbor narodne garde” and was killed in fight with Krajina Serbs.‘

The anonymous creep in question challenged me to confirm or deny the truth of his rumours. This sort of malicious gossip always puts us in a difficult position, as however unlikely it is that such rumours are true, we cannot formally deny them unless we know for certainty that they are false. Readers may recall the rumour that former Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic recruited for the SS during World War II; no evidence has ever been produced to substantiate this claim, so we have to assume that it is false, particularly given the seriousness of the charge. But I cannot say for absolute certainty that it is untrue.

However, having now researched the matter, I can say for absolute, 100% certainty that Biserko’s brother was not a member of the Croatian armed forces, and was not killed in combat with Serb forces. He was not even present in Croatia during the war. As for the claim that Sonja is ‘Croatian’ rather than Serbian; since she is a Serbian citizen, was born in Belgrade and since her father was an ethnic Serb, the smear entirely rests on the fact that her mother is an ethnic Croat. The suggestion being that any Serb whose background isn’t 100% ethnically pure is ‘not really’ Serb at all.

The idea that someone’s patriotism can be called into question on the basis of their ‘alien’ ethnic background has been a favourite of the far right since the Dreyfus Affair. In reailty, people from ethnically non-Serb or mixed backgrounds, including ethnic Croats and Bosniaks, have often become hardline Serb nationalists, or supported the Milosevic regime – examples are Emir Kusturica, Jovan Zametica, Franko Simatovic and Mihalj Kertes. The Serbian fascist leader Vojislav Seselj was frequently accused of being an ethnic Croat, on the grounds that ‘Seselj’ is a Croat surname – he was pathetically reduced  to obtaining a certificate from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (for which he allegedly paid a small sum in deutschmarks) to ‘prove’ he was ‘genuinely’ Serb.

As a footnote, the smear against Sonja was posted on the ‘Aaronovitch Watch’ malicious-gossip site, about which I have recently written, and is entirely characteristic of the sort of material that is posted there. Biserko’s smearer was actively encouraged to post malicious rumours about me as well by the blog’s proprietor, the Guardian columnist and Credit Suisse stockbroker Daniel Davies (interestingly, Credit Suisse is the same company for which the late Richard Holbrooke worked). Evidence suggests that Davies may not be entirely neutral in former-Yugoslav matters; he has spoken of his friendship with the blogger Splintered Sunrise, a sympathiser of the neo-Nazi Serbian Radical Party; and of Christopher Deliso, author of a viciously Islamophobic propaganda tract about Balkan Muslims significantly entitled The coming Balkan caliphate (which I have dissected), which itself draws heavily on the ‘work’ of Srebrenica genocide deniers, in particular Darko Trifunovic, but also Nebojsa Malic. Davies has also stated that during the war in the former Yugoslavia, ‘I actually had a certain amount of sympathy for the Serbian Republic (though not the Bosnian Serbs)’.

Davies’s friend Splintered Sunrise has himself described Biserko as an ‘agent of imperialism’ on the Lenin’s Tomb blog (the comments are no longer visible online, but I possess the print-out). A further example of demonisation and character assassination that is entirely characteristic.

Srebencia, the day and place where I lost any hope in the UN and it Peace missions…….the day July 11,1993, the place Bosnia in the middle of the Civil war there….in a city called Srebrenica, that is the day when 300 UN peace keepers who had been put into place by the UN to protect the Bosnian Muslim Refuges who were being chased and persecuted by the Serb army around them. they were told they were safe and in good hands until the Serb army entered the city and started to seprate the men and boys from the woman and young children…..Dutch Peace Keepers stood by and watched as families were separated into two group one of just men and boys and another of woman and boy mostly under the age of 16…..one group was sent out of the town on a buses to another place the second taken out and shot execution style…..8,343 people were executed by the Serbs who had come into the town and occupied it….the UN peacekeepers were their to protect the innocent civilians and they did nothing while families were separated and they had some idea something was afoot, they had guns and power to stop the separation and order the Serbs out but they did nothing…in fact the practically stood by and did nothing but record the event…..these people were put their to protect people who had no defense and they did nothing because ” they were under no immediate threat…” yet they did have some idea that the people who they were supposed to be protecting were. This is the day and Place where I lost faith in the UN and it peacekeepers. Infact I lost faith in the UN during the Bosnian Civil war.

I wasn’t their but I watched on the news evening and saw the war and saw the people who were hurt by it. ( in fact I know people who were affected by it!) I heard of the Camps for Ethnic cleansing and I watched as the UN and the West did nothing for almost 4 years…. The Dayton Peace accord came too late for these and thousands of others….this is why I believe that military force should be used to stop Genocide in countries before Ethnic cleansing takes too many lives.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Proclaiming-Srebrenica-Genocide-Remembrance-Day-in-Washington-State/151301638252055

I highly recommend this blog, here you can find latest news, in-depth reports and much more on Srebrenica massacre.

http://www.gendercide.org/case_srebrenica.html

Another great site dealing with Srebrenica genocide.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/675945.stm

Srebrenica timeline

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_Children_Massacre

Massacre of children

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,100 times in 2010. That’s about 15 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 13 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 75 posts.

The busiest day of the year was July 11th with 167 views. The most popular post that day was The Srebrenica Massacre youtube video Un failed to protect Bosniaks.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were bosnjackifrontforum.yuku.com, en.wordpress.com, de.wikipedia.org, shmajser.wordpress.com, and search.conduit.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for srebrenica map, srebrenica genocide, srebrenica massacre video, bosnian genocide, and srebrenica massacre.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

The Srebrenica Massacre youtube video Un failed to protect Bosniaks June 2007
2 comments

Srebrenica – defending the truth November 2006

‘Architect of mass murder,’ Radovan Karadzic arrested after 13 years July 2008

Srebrenica revisionists Noam Chomsky was a part of Milosevic`s lobby November 2006

Massacre in Srebrenica The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica April 2007

preko Video: siege of Mostar, genocide in Srebrenica and Prijedor,Serbian death camps,Trnovo execution,rape,two hours from London.

In June 2005, during cross-examination of a witness in the case against Slobodan Milošević[1] at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the court viewed video footage showing a Serbian paramilitary unit, calling itself the Scorpions, execute six Bosnian Muslim men and teenagers captured after the fall of Srebrenica in 1995. The images of Serbian soldiers tormenting and then shooting the Bosnian Muslim prisoners, whose hands were tied behind their backs and who offered no resistance before being shot, broke through the wall of silence and denial about the subject of Srebrenica in Serbia and Montenegro. The Serbian Government condemned the killings, and the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor acted swiftly to detain a number of suspects allegedly complicit in the murders of these six men.

There is a multitude of evidence publicly available that proves that Bosnian Serb and other forces executed 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim prisoners from Srebrenica in one week in July 1995. Despite this, there are still many people in Serbia and Montenegro who try to deny the full enormity of the crime that Bosnian Serb military, police and other forces (including, allegedly, forces from Serbia) committed. They argue that the actual number of dead is exaggerated, that ‘only’ around 2,000 died. They also argue that most of these 2,000 dead were casualties of war—Bosnian Muslim soldiers killed in battle. Some who are even bolder, claim that it was a ‘crime of passion’—revenge for all those Serbs killed in the villages around Srebrenica. Still others claim that what happened at Srebrenica was not genocide. The Tribunal has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that each of these claims is wrong.

The massacre that occurred in Srebrenica in July 1995 was the single worst atrocity committed in the former Yugoslavia during the wars of the 1990s and the worst massacre that occurred in Europe since the months after World War II. This is why the ICTY, which was established in 1993 to try those most responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991,[2] has invested a great deal of time and effort in investigating what happened in Srebrenica and bringing those responsible to justice. The ICTY has issued indictments against 19 individuals for crimes committed in Srebrenica, all but one of which are against high-level perpetrators—those who planned and ordered the killing operation. So far, the Tribunal has completed trials and appeals against three accused: General Radislav Krstić, commander of the Republika Srpska Army (VRS) Drina Corps, Dražen Erdemović, a VRS soldier with the 10th Sabotage Detachment and Dragan Obrenović, deputy commander of the VRS Zvornik Brigade. Erdemović and Obrenović admitted their participation in the Srebrenica killings. The facts about Srebrenica contained in the judgements against Krstić,[3] Erdemović[4] and Obrenović[5] have been established beyond a reasonable doubt.[6]

In particular, in its proceedings against these three accused, the Tribunal has found beyond a reasonable doubt that Bosnian Serb and other forces killed between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys between approximately 11 and 19 July 1995. The Tribunal has established beyond a reasonable doubt that the vast majority of those killed were not killed in combat, but were victims of executions. The Tribunal has established beyond a reasonable doubt that the killings did not occur in a moment of passion, but were the product of a well-planned and coordinated operation. Finally, the Tribunal has established beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing of 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim prisoners was genocide.

The Number of Dead
The Tribunal has determined that the number of Bosnian men and boys killed in Srebrenica is between 7,000 and 8,000. In order to come to this conclusion, the Judges in the Krstić case accepted and reviewed a great deal of evidentiary material.

Exhumations
Among the evidence that the Judges used to establish the number of people the Bosnian Serbs killed was that from the mass graves where the victims were buried. The Chamber reviewed evidence from 21 mass graves that had been exhumed by the ICTY from 1996 to 2000.[7] Of these, 14 were “primary gravesites”, where the victims’ bodies had been buried immediately after they were killed. Bosnian Serb forces subsequently disturbed eight of these primary gravesites in an attempt to cover up their crimes: during a period of several weeks in September and October 1995, they removed bodies from the primary graves and reburied them in other locations that are referred to as “secondary gravesites.” Seven of the 21 mass graves were such “secondary” burial sites.

Determining the exact number of bodies in each of the mass graves was a very difficult task, which was complicated by the fact that Bosnian Serb forces mutilated and dismembered many of the remains when they used heavy machinery to exhume and rebury them.[8] Thus body parts from the same person could be found in two separate mass graves—a primary and a secondary one.

Nevertheless, the forensic experts were able to determine the minimum number of bodies contained in all the discovered graves. That number was 2,028 victims.[9] At the time the Judges in the Krstić trial issued their Judgement in August 2001, they noted that the Prosecution had identified 18 other mass graves that had not yet been exhumed.[10] In other words, the Judges recognized at that time that 2,028 exhumed bodies do not represent the sum total of the Bosnian Muslim men and boys killed at Srebrenica.

Demographic Expert
The Trial Chamber in the Krstić case heard evidence from a demographics expert whose task it was to determine the number of people who have been reported as missing from Srebrenica. The demographics expert cross-referenced the list of missing persons of the International Committee of the Red Cross with other sources, including lists of those who were missing or
killed before July 1995, and other data that shows who was alive after. In this way, he was able to make sure that his figures could only refer to those who were missing as a result of the massacres at Srebrenica in July 1995. Based on this research, he testified that a conservative estimate of the number of people missing from Srebrenica is 7,475.[11]

Intercepts
The Trial Chamber in the Krstić case heard evidence of intercepted conversations between VRS soldiers, including the accused, which corroborates the fact that Bosnian Serb forces killed between 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim prisoners.

As has become standard practice in modern warfare, both the VRS and the Bosnian Army (ABiH) monitored enemy communications. The VRS had secure means of communication, but they did not always work and took longer to set up, so the officers often used unsecured lines because they were quicker. Intelligence officers from the ABiH intercepted conversations over such lines and transcribed them. These recordings were then submitted to the Tribunal’s Office of the Prosecutor.[12]

Determining the authenticity and reliability of such intercepts is a long and detailed process: the Trial Chamber heard direct evidence from the Bosnian Army personnel who were transcribing the conversations. It also heard about the Prosecution’s efforts to determine whether the transcripts were reliable and genuine, including their efforts to find evidence from other sources to corroborate the information from the transcripts.[13] As a result, not all the intercepts could be admitted as evidence, but those that were showed a conclusive story. Of the intercepts that were admitted as evidence in the Krstić case, the Trial Chamber found the following to be particularly significant in determining the number of Bosnian Muslims the Bosnian Serb forces took prisoner and killed:

• One intercepted telephone conversation from 1730 hours on 13 July 1995 shows that in that moment the Bosnian Serb forces had captured around 6,000 people.[14] Consistent with this, around 14 July Colonel Radislav Janković, from the VRS General Staff, told a Dutch battalion soldier that they had captured around 6,000 POWs.[15]

• On 18 July 1995, an unidentified Bosnian Serb stated in an intercepted conversation that of the 10,000 military aged men who were in Srebrenica, “4,000-5,000 have certainly kicked the bucket.”[16]

• The Trial Chamber also had an intercepted conversation between General Krstić and ICTY accused VRS Colonel Ljubiša Beara at 1000 hours on 15 July 1995, the middle of the killing operation. In it, Beara asks Krstić for more men. He states “I don’t know what to do. I mean it, Krle [Krstić’s nickname]. There are still 3,500 “parcels” that I have to distribute and I have no solution.” Krstić replies, “Fuck it, I’ll see what I can do.” From other intercepted telephone conversations, the Prosecution was able to show that the word “parcel” means Bosnian Muslim prisoner, and the word “distribute” means to kill them.[17]

The intercept evidence corroborates the findings of the demographic expert and the exhumation evidence that shows that Bosnian Serb forces took prisoner and killed many thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys, and not just 2,000 as some people in Serbia and Montenegro claim.

Insider Witnesses
Perhaps the most compelling evidence that the Tribunal has heard that proves that Bosnian Serb forces killed 7,000 to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men comes from the people who actually participated in the killing operation. In the Krstić trial, the Trial Chamber heard from Dražen Erdemović, a VRS soldier with the 10th Sabotage Detachment, who participated in one of the largest executions, which took place at the Branjevo Military Farm on 16 July 1995. Erdemović pleaded guilty to participating in these executions and later testified in the case against General Krstić.[18] Dražen Erdemović’s description of how his unit killed their victims assists in getting an idea of how many people lost their lives during those five days in July.

In his testimony, Erdemović explained that his unit received orders on the morning of 16 July 1995 to go to the Branjevo Military farm. Shortly after they reached the farm, buses carrying Bosnian Muslim men began to arrive. Erdemović and the other members of his unit were given orders to shoot the prisoners. Erdemović testified that, in his estimate, they killed between 1,000 and 1,200 Bosnian Muslim men on that day alone.[19] And the Branjevo Military Farm was not the only site at which executions took place: the Trial Chamber examined evidence of mass executions at a total of nine sites, including the Branjevo Military Farm.

(a) The Morning of 13 July 1995: Jadar River
(b) The Afternoon of 13 July 1995: Čerska Valley
(c) Late Afternoon of 13 July 1995: Kravica Warehouse
(d) 13-14 July 1995: Tišća
(e) 14 July 1995: Grbavci School Detention site and Orahovac Execution site
(f) 14-15 July 1995: Petkovci School Detention Site and Petkovci Dam Execution Site
(g) 14-16 July 1995: Pilica School Detention Site and Branjevo Military Farm Execution Site
(h) 16 July 1995: Pilica Cultural Dom
(i) 14-17 July 1995: Kozluk

All of this evidence points in no uncertain terms to the accuracy of the estimate that between 7,000 and 8,000 people were executed in Srebrenica in July 1995.

The Victims Were Not Battle Casualties

In Republika Srpska and Serbia one does not only hear that the number of dead was much lower than 7,000 to 8,000. One also hears that the victims were not civilians or prisoners of war, but rather soldiers who died in battle. Therefore, according to them, VRS forces were abiding by the laws of war and no crime was committed at Srebrenica.

Evidence from the exhumations that the Trial Chamber reviewed in the Krstić case paints quite a different picture. It shows that most of the victims were not killed in combat but in mass executions. In the mass graves that have been exhumed so far, Tribunal investigators found 448 blindfolds on or with the victims’ bodies as well as 423 pieces of cloth, string or wire that were used to tie the victims’ hands.[20] People who were blindfolded or had their hands tied behind their backs were obviously not killed in combat. The Trial Chamber also noted that some of the victims in the mass graves were handicapped, and therefore, very unlikely to have been combatants.[21]

Here, again, the testimony of the perpetrators is very important. Momir Nikolić, VRS Deputy Commander for Security and Intelligence, said clearly that the VRS did not treat the prisoners they captured according to the Geneva Conventions:

Do you really think that in an operation where 7.000 people were set aside, captured, and killed that somebody was adhering to the Geneva Conventions? Do you really believe that somebody adhered to the law, rules and regulations in an operation where so many were killed? First of all, they were captured, killed, and then buried, exhumed once again, buried again. Can you conceive of that, that somebody in an operation of that kind adhered to the Geneva Conventions? Nobody ... adhered to the Geneva Conventions or the rules and regulations. Because had they, then the consequences of that particular operation would not have been a total of 7.000 people dead.[22]

Dragan Obrenović, who was the commander of the VRS Zvornik Brigade at the time and who confessed to his participation in the massacres, stated clearly that on 13 July 1995 he became aware of the fact that Bosnian Serb forces captured thousands of Bosnian Muslim prisoners and that the prisoners were to be shot.[23]  Testifying about his role in the Branjevo Military Farm executions, Dražen Erdemović stated that buses carrying Bosnian Muslim prisoners began arriving there on the morning of 16 July 1995. He stated that all but one of the prisoners wore civilian clothes. He also testified that some of them were blindfolded and had their hands tied. He described how his unit shot the victims. He stated that, except for one prisoner who tried to escape, none resisted before being shot.[24]

Testimony from the few victims who survived the executions also clearly shows that VRS forces were callously killing civilians or prisoners of war, in serious violation of international humanitarian law. One of the survivors of the Branjevo Military Farm executions, described above, related the moment when he was confronted by the firing squad:

When they opened fire, I threw myself on the ground…. And one man fell on my head. I think that he was killed on the spot. And I could feel the hot blood pouring over me… I could hear one man crying for help. He was begging them to kill him. And they simply said “Let him suffer. We’ll kill him later.”[25]

Lastly, killing an enemy soldier in combat is not a war crime. If those buried in the mass graves had indeed been soldiers killed in battle, there would have been no need for Bosnian Serb forces to execute a massive cover-up campaign.[26] And there is much evidence that proves that is exactly what they did in September and October of 1995. In order to cover up their initial crimes of killing civilians and prisoners of war, the Bosnian Serb forces committed another crime—they attempted to relocate the bodies. They used bulldozers and other heavy machinery to exhume a number of the mass gravesites and move the bodies to other locations. The Prosecution conducted forensic analysis of the 21 mass graves that it exhumed and found that some of the primary and secondary sites were linked. Forensic experts analyzed the soil, bullets and other materials found in the sites they exhumed and found that 12 of them were linked to each other.[27] The Trial Chamber in the Krstić case found that this evidence demonstrates an extensive campaign to conceal the bodies of the men who the Bosnian Serb forces killed and buried in mass gravesites in July 1995. This cover-up attempt shows not only that Bosnian Serb forces committed horrible crimes, but also that they were well aware that what they had done was against the law.

A Planned Killing Operation
Perhaps the most perfidious claim that one hears in Republika Srpska and Serbia is that Bosnian Serb forces killed the Bosnian Muslim prisoners from Srebrenica in revenge. It is claimed that Bosnian Serbs who perpetrated the massacre were upset by the crimes Bosnian Muslim forces committed against Serbs in the villages around Srebrenica,[28] and acted in the heat of passion, as if that would justify killing thousands of Bosnian Muslim prisoners. Revenge is not a defence under international law, which is clear to any army soldier and certainly experienced officers. It is a barbaric concept, and the law exists precisely to prevent it. Those who act out of revenge, or call on it in order to justify crimes, are dealing a blow to the rule of law, and thus to civilization itself. Nor can revenge morally justify killing 7,000 to 8,000 people simply because they share the same ethnicity as others who perpetrated crimes: one crime can never justify another.

Proceedings before the Tribunal have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Srebrenica was a planned killing operation, and not an act of revenge by emotionally agitated Bosnian Serb soldiers. It is impossible to kill 7,000 to 8,000 people in the space of one week without methodical planning and substantial resources. Soldiers have to be mobilized to guard the prisoners, to move them from holding locations to execution sites, and to shoot them. Multiple locations to hold the prisoners and to execute them need to be identified and secured. Thousands of rounds of ammunition to shoot the prisoners need to be supplied. Numerous vehicles and hundreds of litres of fuel need to be commandeered to move the prisoners. A number of bulldozers and excavators need to be commissioned to dig their graves. During a state of war mobilizing such resources cannot be done at the whim of a few crazy soldiers. It needs to be ordered and authorized by commanders at high-levels.

In the Krstić case, the Trial Chamber heard a lot of evidence that demonstrated clearly that the Bosnian Serb army mobilized resources between 11 and 19 July 1995 in order to kill Bosnian Muslim prisoners.

• Mobilizing men: In the intercepted telephone conversation between General Krstić and ICTY accused VRS Colonel Ljubiša Beara at 1000 hours on 15 July 1995, referred to above,[29] Beara asks Krstić for men to help with the executions. Krstić actually did what Beara asked him to do: the very next day, 16 July 1995, men from the VRS Bratunac Brigade arrived to assist members of the 10th Sabotage Detachment with the executions at the Branjevo Military Farm.[30]

• Mobilizing fuel: Another intercepted conversation shows that on 16 July 1995 VRS Colonel Popović made a request for 500 litres of diesel fuel. A VRS Zvornik Brigade document confirms that 500 litres of diesel fuel was in fact given to Colonel Popović on 16 July 1995.[31]

• Mobilizing machinery: One victim of the Branjevo Military Farm executions on 16 July 1995 who survived testified that he heard heavy machinery in the killing field on 17 July.[32] Aerial photographs of the area taken on 17 July 1995 show a large number of bodies lying in the field near the farm, and an excavator digging a hole.[33] Corroborating the witness’ testimony and the aerial photographs, VRS Zvornik Brigade vehicle records show an ULT 220 bulldozer in operation at Branjevo for eight-and-a-half hours on 17 July 1995, and the Fuel Dispersal Log shows that 100 litres of diesel fuel was disbursed to a BGH-700 excavator on 17 July 1995.[34]

Most importantly, when referring to his own responsibility for the crimes, Dragan Obrenović acknowledged that the VRS had a plan to kill the Bosnian Muslim prisoners. He stated that he became aware of the fact that Bosnian Serb forces captured thousands of Bosnian Muslim prisoners and that they were to be killed on 13 July 1995 during a conversation with ICTY indictee Drago Nikolić, who was Chief of Security of the VRS First Light Infantry Brigade at the time. Nikolić told Obrenović that the prisoners were to be brought to Zvornik to be shot. Nikolić also told him that the order came from ICTY indictee Ratko Mladić, Chief of the VRS General Staff, and that everyone knew about it, including Obrenović’s commanding officer, ICTY indictee Vinko Pandurević, for whom he was standing in.[35] He also stated the following:

...I was in Command of the Zvornik Brigade during the absence of my Commander, Vinko Pandurević, until his return at about midday on 15th July. On hearing of this plan [emphasis added] to kill the prisoners I, as acting Commander, took responsibility for the plan and supported the implementation of this plan.[36]

As is clear from the above, the Tribunal’s proceedings in relation to Srebrenica have established beyond a reasonable doubt that the massacre there was a carefully planned and coordinated operation.

Srebrenica Was an Act of Genocide
Another objection that we hear frequently in Serbia and Montenegro is that what happened at Srebrenica is not genocide. General Krstić’s Defence made precisely this claim during his trial. But before discussing the Defence’s reasoning and why the Trial Chamber rejected it, it is first important to look at the legal definition of genocide, since the term is quite often misused. The Tribunal’s Statute defines genocide as:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) killing members of the group;
(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole in part;
(d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

General Krstić’s Defence did not challenge the fact that Bosnian Serb forces killed a significant number of Bosnian Muslim men, but disagreed that it constitutes genocide. The Defence argued that killing up to 7,500 Bosnian Muslims does not constitute a substantial part of the Bosnian Muslim group, which numbers about 1.4 million people, or even a substantial part of the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica. The Defence also argued that Bosnian Serb forces did not kill the women, children and elderly, which it could have, unlike in other genocides in history. It further argued that had it intended to destroy the Bosnian Muslims as a group, it would also have killed the Bosnian Muslims of Žepa.[37]

The Trial Chamber found that the evidence disproved the Defence’s claims. Bosnian Serb forces systematically massacred between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men from Srebrenica during a period of no more than seven days. At the same time, they forcibly transferred the rest of the Bosnian Muslim population from Srebrenica, some 25,000 people. The Trial Chamber stated that it could not have escaped the Bosnian Serb forces that killing two or three generations of men would have a lasting and devastating impact on the survival of the Bosnian Muslim community from Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb forces knew that killing the men, and forcibly transferring the women, children and elderly would inevitably result in the physical disappearance of the Bosnian Muslim population of Srebrenica. The Trial Chamber pointed out that their intent to destroy the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica can also be seen in the fact that they destroyed Bosnian Muslim homes and the principal mosque in Srebrenica. In short, the evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Bosnian Serb forces intended to kill the Bosnian Muslim men of military age in order to destroy the community of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica.[38] The Tribunal’s Appeals Chamber confirmed the Trial Chamber’s findings on this point and affirmed that what happened at Srebrenica was an act of genocide.[39]

Conclusion
Evidence from exhumations, demographic experts, intercepted communications, documents, victim testimony and perpetrator testimony led the Trial Chamber to the following irrefutable conclusions: that Bosnian Serb forces killed between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in July 1995; that the victims were either civilians or prisoners of war; that the massacre and the subsequent cover-up operation were planned and well-organised; and that it was an act of genocide. It is worthy of note that since the Judgement against General Radislav Krstić was handed down in August 2001, more evidence has emerged that affirms the Tribunal’s findings. Among them is the Report of the Republika Srpska Commission to Investigate Events in and around Srebrenica from 10 to 19 July 1995. The Commission’s report, which identifies 32 new mass graves, found that “in the period between 10–19 July 1995 many thousands of Bosnians were liquidated, in a manner that constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”[40]

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
Outreach
outreach@icty.org

http://www.un.org.icty/index-b.html

Related Videos
A Cry From The Grave: Srebrenica Genocide
Trnovo Execution

References:

1 Slobodan Milošević has been charged under three indictments for crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and
Kosovo. The charges include responsibility for the massacre of over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in
July 1995.
2 The United Nations Security Council established the ICTY pursuant to its Resolution 827 (1993) on 25 May 1993.
3 Judgement, Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić, Case No. IT-98-33-T, 2 August 2001, (hereinafter “Krstić Judgement”).
4 Judgement, Prosecutor v. Erdemović, Case No.: IT-96-22-Tbis, Sentencing Judgement, 5 March 1998. Dražen
Erdemović pleaded guilty to one count of crimes against humanity for participating in the Branjevo Military Farm
executions, for which the Trial Chamber sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The Appeals Chamber revised his
sentence to five years for violating the laws or customs of war.
5 Judgement, Prosecutor v. Dragan Obrenović, Case No.: IT-02-60/2-S, 10 December 2003, (hereinafter “Obrenović
Judgement”). The Trial Chamber sentenced Dragan Obrenović to 17 years in prison.
6 The Tribunal has also completed first instance trials against Dragan Jokić and Vidoje Blagojević, both of whom the
Trial Chamber convicted for participating in the Srebrenica killings. Facts that the Trial Chamber in their case found to
be proven beyond a reasonable doubt are consistent with those that have been proven in the Krstić, Obrenović, and
Erdemović cases. Also on appeal is the case against Momir Nikolić, who pleaded guilty to participating in the
Srebrenica killings.
7 Krstić Judgement, para. 71.
8 Krstić Judgement, para. 80.
9 Krstić Judgement, paras. 73 and 80.
10 Krstić Judgement, para. 80.
11 Krstić Judgement, para. 81.
12 Krstić Judgement, para. 105.
13 Krstić Judgement, para. 106, 116.
14 Krstić Judgement, para. 83, P 523.
15 Krstić Judgement, para. 83, Testimony of Major Robert Franken, T. 2050
16 Krstić Judgement, para. 83, P 684.
17 Krstić Judgement, para. 83, 380–382, P 478. The Trial Chamber found the following two conversations clearly indicated that the word “parcel” refers to Bosnian Muslim prisoner. During an intercepted conversation on 14 July 1995 at 2102 hours, a duty officer in the Zvornik Brigade, Major Jokić, spoke to Colonel Beara and said that there were “big problems with the people, I mean, with the parcel” (Krstić Judgement, para. 383, P 559). In another intercepted conversation on 2 August 1995 at 1240 hours between General Krstić and VRS Colonel Popović, Popović asked Krstić whether someone called “Čiča” was on his way towards him. Krstić stated that he was. Then Popović said, “(h)e went up there because we had some parcels, to check what they know.” Krstić replied “Good” (Krstić Judgement, para. 383, P 851). The Trial Chamber heard evidence that VRS forces were still taking Bosnian Muslim prisoners in August when Krstić and Popović had this conversation. In the proceedings against him, Dragan Obrenović confirmed that they often spoke to each other in code. Obrenović Judgement, Annex B.
18 Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić, Case No.: IT-98-33, Testimony of Dražen Erdemović on 22 May 2000.
19 Krstić Judgement, para. 234, 239 and 240.
20 Krstić Judgement, para. 75.
21 Krstić Judgement, para. 75.
22 Prosecutor v. Vidoje Blagojević and Dragan Jokić, Case No.: IT-02-60, Testimony of Momir Nikolić on 25 September
2003, T 1959.
23 Obrenović Judgement, Annex B.
24 Krstić Judgement, para. 234.
25 Krstić Judgement, para. 235.
26 Krstić Judgement, para. 78.
27 Krstić Judgement, para. 78.
28 Crimes committed in the area around Srebrenica are the subject of proceedings against Naser Orić, the commander
of Bosnian Muslim forces in Srebrenica. Orić is currently standing trial before the Tribunal. See Prosecutor v. Naser
Orić, Case No.: IT-03-68.
29 Krstić Judgement, para. 380.
30 Krstić Judgement, para. 240 and 386.
31 Krstić Judgement, para. 116, P 620 and P 619.
32 Krstić Judgement, para. 236.
33 Krstić Judgement, para. 237, 241, P 24/2, P 24/3, P 24/4.
34 Krstić Judgement, para. 241, P 646, P 645.
35 Obrenović Judgement, Annex B.
36 Obrenović Judgement, Annex B.
37 Krstić Judgement, para. 593.
38 Krstić Judgement, para. 594–599.
39 Appeals Judgement, Prosecutor v. Radislav Krstić, Case No.: IT-99-33, 19 April 2004.
40 “Events in and around Srebrenica from 10 to 19 July 1995,” Commission for Investigating the Events in and around
Srebrenica from 10 to 19 July 1995, Republika Srpska Government, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Banja Luka, June 2004, p.40.

http://www.bosniafacts.info/web/facts_about_srebrenica.php

The Bosnians gathered near Sarajevo carrying the victims, whose remains were found in numerous mass graves scattered around eastern Bosnia, will be reburied at a memorial cemetery near Srebrenica on Sunday, on the 15th anniversary of the massacre.

Although between 10,000 and 15,000 tried to escape on foot through the forests to Muslim-held territory, Serbian forces captured and systematically killed nearly 8,000 men and boys from Srebrenica on July 11, 1995 despite , the enclave had been declared a United Nations “safe haven” two years earlier.

Sabit Cvrk, 48, said he walked with eleven other men, including one who was wounded when their group was bombed.

“We only walked at night, were horribly scared, the ambushes followed one after another. We prayed to God not to fall into the hands of the Bosnian Serb forces,” he told reporters.

Trucks loaded with the bodies, which left Visoko after Muslim and Catholic clerics said their prayers for the dead, briefly stopped in front of the presidency building in Sarajevo en route to Srebrenica.

Thousands of people lined the streets of the Bosnian capital to honor the victims, Balkan Insight said.

Numerous politicians joined the mourners on the street, including the Bosniak and Croat members of the country’s tripartite presidency.

“I had everything and now I have nothing. I had three sons, I lost all three of them,” 71-year-old Izet Osmanovic told Balkan Insight in Visoko.

Osmanovic will bury the remains of his oldest son Muhidin at the memorial cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica.

“I decided to burry Muhidin before I die although they only found a few of his bones,” Osmanovic said.

Srebrenica genocide

During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, the United Nations had declared Serb-besieged Srebrenica, some 90 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Sarajevo, a protected area for civilians. But the few hundred Dutch Blue Helmets on the ground were left short of credible weaponry or a clear mandate to protect the town.

Srebrenica fell to the Serbs after senior U.N. commanders dithered on Dutch requests for air strikes and its overwhelmingly Bosnian Muslim residents swarmed the U.N. military base, seeking refuge. But the peacekeepers allowed the Serbs to take away the townspeople when Gen. Ratko Mladic, their leader, said they would not be harmed.

In July 1995, Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic overran the enclave. The outnumbered U.N. troops never fired a shot. They watched as Mladic’s troops rounded up the population of Srebrenica and took the men away for execution.

Men and boys among the 50,000 Muslim refugees from nearby towns and villages sheltering in Srebrenica tried to escape through the woods after the town fell but most were hunted down, detained and executed by the Serb forces.

So far some 3,200 Srebrenica victims have been buried at the memorial cemetery. Forensic experts from the International Commission on Missing Persons said they have identified 6,186 of those killed in the atrocity.

In 1995, about 15,000 men tried to escape the slaughter by fleeing over the mountains toward the safe town of Tuzla. They were hunted along their 65-mile (100-kilometer) walk; those caught were killed. At the time, Serb TV filmed the hunt and the footage was later used at the court as evidence. Many times it was aired on TV throughout the region. One section shows an elderly man, Ramo Osmanovic, caught by Serb soldiers and forced to call his son, Nermin – 16 years old at the time — to come out from the forest and surrender. The boy obeyed.

Bosnian Serbs sought to cover up the massacre by reburying the remains of victims using bulldozers, which caused body parts to become separated.

So, DNA analysis is the only tool for identification.

Prosecutors of International Criminal Court (ICC) said top Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic led a genocidal campaign to make Bosnian Muslims “disappear from the face of the earth” and carve out a mono-ethnic state for Bosnian Serbs during a war that killed an estimated 100,000 people.

First appearance

In Srebrenica, the presidents of both Serbia and Croatia will for the first time pay respects to victims alongside Bosnian Muslims.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a 1999 report that the United Nations failed at Srebrenica because of errors, misjudgment and “an inability to recognize the scope of the evil confronting us.” He said the U.N. treated Serbs and Muslims equally when they should have made a “moral judgment” that ethnic cleansing — practiced mostly by the Serbs — was evil.

An independent study by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation cleared the Dutch troops of blame, noting they were outnumbered, lightly armed, undersupplied, and under instructions to fire only in self-defense. However, the Dutch government has accepted “political responsibility” for the mission’s failure, and has given tens of millions of dollars to Bosnia, with a third earmarked for rebuilding Srebrenica.

http://www.abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=195089

In the largest ever case before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), judges also sentenced five other former military and police officers to lengthy terms in prison for their role in the killings at Srebrenica and another safe haven of Žepa – events the court said were unprecedented in scale and brutality.

The ICTY found that at least 5,336 people are confirmed to have been killed as a result of the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, but that other evidence indicates the death toll could be as high as 7,826. Srebrenica and Žepa had been declared safe havens for civilians by the UN two years before the massacres, but they were both overrun by Bosnian Serb forces.

The attacks were carried out following the issuing of a “supreme command directive” in March 1995 by the then Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadžic in which he set out the criminal plan aimed at forcing the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica and Žepa to leave the enclaves. Mr. Karadžic is himself on trial for his role in the Balkan wars.

The tribunal stated that the Drina Corps of the Bosnian Serb forces (known as the VRS) was tasked with creating “an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica and Žepa,” which are both located in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The scale and nature of the murder operation, with the staggering number of killings, the systematic and organised manner in which it was carried out, the targeting and relentless pursuit of the victims, and the plain intention, apparent from the evidence, to eliminate every Bosnian Muslim male who was captured or surrendered proves beyond reasonable doubt that this was genocide,” the trial chamber found.

“In the context of the war in the former Yugoslavia, and in the context of human history, these events are arrestive in their scale and brutality.”

Vujadin Popovic, the chief of security of the Drina Corps, and Ljubiša Beara, the head of security in the VRS main staff, were each found guilty of genocide, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to life in prison.

The judges said Mr. Popovic was one of the major participants in the attacks on the safe havens. He was found to have been present at a number of sites where captured Bosnian Muslims were detained or executed between 13 July and 23 July.

“Mr. Popovic knew that the intent was not just to kill those who had fallen into the hands of the Bosnian Serb Forces, but to kill as many as possible with the aim of destroying the group. Mr. Popovic’s ensuing robust participation in all aspects of the plan demonstrates that he not only knew of this intent to destroy, he also shared it.”

Mr. Beara was the “driving force behind the murder enterprise,” the judges said. He “had the clearest overall picture of the massive scale and scope of the killing operation. From his presence in Bratunac on the night of 13 July, to his personal visits to the various detention and execution sites and the significant logistical challenges he faced throughout, Mr. Beara had a very personal view of the staggering number of victims destined for execution.”

Drago Nikolic, the chief of security in the Zvornik Brigade, was found guilty of aiding and abetting genocide, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to 35 years in jail.

Ljubomir Borovcanin, the deputy commander of the Special Police Brigade of the police forces, was convicted of aiding and abetting extermination, murder, persecution and forcible transfer, murder as a crime against humanity and as a violation of the laws of customs of war under. He will serve a 17-year jail term.

Radivoje Miletic, the chief of the administration for operations and training at the VRS main staff, was found guilty of murder, persecution and inhumane acts and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Milan Gvero, the assistant commander for moral, legal and religious affairs of the VRS main staff, was convicted of persecution and inhumane acts and acquitted of the two counts of murder and that of deportation. He was sentenced to five years in jail.

Vinko Pandurevic, commander of the Zvornik Brigade, was found guilty of aiding and abetting murder, persecution and inhumane acts. He was acquitted of charges of genocide, extermination and deportation and will serve 13 years in prison.

The trial was the largest conducted to date at the ICTY, which is based in The Hague. Proceedings began in August 2006 and concluded in September last year. The trial took a total of 425 days during which the ICTY heard or otherwise admitted evidence from 315 witnesses.

The tribunal has indicted 21 people for crimes committed in Srebrenica. They include Radislav Krstic, the first individual to be convicted by the ICTY of aiding and abetting genocide in Srebrenica. The appeals chamber sentenced him to 35 years’ imprisonment. The trials of Mr. Karadžic, Zdravko Tolimir, Jovica Stanišic and Franko Simatovic are ongoing. Ratko Mladic, the war-time VRS leader also charged with genocide in Srebrenica, remains at large.

Since its establishment, the ICTY has indicted more than 160 persons for serious violations of humanitarian law committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001. Proceedings against 123 have finished and proceedings are open for another 40 accused.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34986&Cr=icty&Cr1=