Media

2/26/07
News Advisory - For Immediate Release

^{Photo Credit: AP Photo}

The Croatian Worldwide Association (CWA) denounces the decision by the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) absolving Serbia of direct involvement in the July 1995 Srebrenica mass genocide.  These innocent individuals were murdered, slaughtered and then buried in a mass grave.

Here we go again - yet another Kangaroo Court established by the United Nations.

How could have Serbia not been involved with former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic at the head seat of government?  

An estimated over 8,000 lives were perished by brutal Serbian forces, led by war criminal Ratko Mladic who continues to evade justice from the International Criminal War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Both war criminals, Mladic and Karadzic remain at large and continue to evade justice and avoid trial. 
 
Srebrenica was declared a UN "Safe Area" while the UN deployed forces did nothing to stop the genocide. Now this UN Court chooses not to pass a guilty verdict on those directly responsible for the genocide. 

The ICJ decision is outright outrageous and despicable.

Related Article:

UN's top court clears Serbia of genocide Agence France Presse

February 26, 2007
Agence France Presse

_{The UN's top court on Monday cleared Serbia of direct involvement in genocide during the Bosnian war, but said Belgrade did breach international law by failing to prevent the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.}

_{"The court finds that Serbia has not committed genocide," International Court of Justice (ICJ) president Rosalyn Higgins told journalists after the ruling, the ICJ's first in a genocide case.}

_{The United Nations' court, set up to deal with legal disputes between states, found that "massive killings" and atrocities occurred throughout Bosnia with Bosnian Muslims being the victims in many cases.}

_{However, "the evidence did not show that these terrible acts were accompanied by the specific intent to destroy a group that is the required proof of genocide," said Higgins.}

_{The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the decision not to hand down a "collective punishment" and expressed hope that it could lead to "the final reconciliation of the peoples" in the region.}

_{"We think it will contribute to close the page of history, that was dramatic, very painful and very damaging for many, many people," Solana told a press conference in Brussels.}

_{Bosnia had accused Serbia of masterminding a genocide through widespread "ethnic cleansing" during the brutal 1992-95 war that left more than 200,000 people dead.}

_{The ICJ found only one act of genocide -- the massacre at Srebrenica of nearly 8,000 Muslims by Bosnian Serb troops -- and said there was not enough evidence to suggest Belgrade was directly responsible.}

_{However, it ruled that Serbia had failed in its responsibility under the 1948 genocide convention to try and prevent the killings.}

_{While the ICJ ruled that Belgrade had given "considerable military and financial support" to the Bosnian Serb leadership, the court found it did not mastermind the slaughter in Srebrenica.}

_{"The decision to kill the adult male population of the Muslim community was taken by some members of the main staff of the (Bosnian Serb army) but without instructions from or effective control by (Serbia)," the court said.}

_{Higgins stressed the case had also "conclusively proved" that the Serbian leadership, and former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic in particular, "were fully aware ... that massacres were likely to occur".}

_{"It must have been clear that there was a serious risk of genocide in Srebrenica," she added.}

_{Despite Serbia's failure to intervene, the court ruled that Belgrade will not have to pay any financial compensation to Sarajevo, which could have run into hundreds of millions of euros (dollars).}

_{Instead, it called on Belgrade to fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and deliver, among others, Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who has been indicted for genocide over the Srebrenica massacre and is thought to be hiding in Serbia.}

_{Serbian President Boris Tadic welcomed the judgement and called on the Serbian parliament to pass a declaration "condemning the crime in Srebrenica without any doubt".}

_{Tadic also accepted that Serbia would face "dramatic political and economic consequences" if it failed to cooperate over Mladic.}

_{The German EU presidency said it hoped the verdict would close "a painful chapter in the history" of the former Yugoslavia and called on Belgrade to distance itself from the crimes committed in the Milosevic era.}

_{There was a mixed reaction in Bosnia, with Bosnian Muslims and Croats condemning the court's ruling while Bosnian Serbs hailed the decision.}

_{"Europe has once again proved that it is against Muslims," said Munira Subasic, who lost 22 family members in the Srebrenica massacre and runs an organisation of survivors.}

_{International law expert Geraldine Mattioli of Human Rights Watch said the historic verdict "highlights the difficulty of proving genocide which has a very high threshold".}