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Serbia not guilty of genocide, ICJ justices decide

"Shame on the people who reached such a verdict. How can they say not guilty of genocide when there are photos, video footage."

Zinaida Mujic, representative of the Mothers of Srebrenica association

The UN's highest court yesterday exonerated Serbia of direct responsibility for the mass slaughter of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica during the 1992-1995 Bosnia war, but ruled that it failed to prevent genocide.

In a landmark judgment, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Serbia also failed to comply with its obligations to punish those who carried out the genocide in July 1995, and ordered Belgrade to hand over suspects for trial by a separate UN court.

However, it rejected Bosnia's claim for monetary reparations.

"Financial compensation is not the appropriate form of reparation for the breach of the obligation to prevent genocide," the judgment said.

The case before the ICJ, also known as the World Court, was the first time an entire nation was being held to judicial account for the ultimate crime.

It specifically demanded that Serbia hand over for trial General Ratko Mladic, the general who oversaw the Bosnian Serb onslaught at Srebrenica, to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Serbia has said it has been unable to arrest Mladic since his indictment 12 years ago.

Key to the court's findings was its conclusion that no one in Serbia, or any official organ of the state, could be shown to have had the deliberate intention to "destroy in whole or in part" the Bosnian Muslim population -- a critical element in the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The judges found that Serbia, though it supported the Bosnian Serbs, fell short of having effective control over the Bosnian army and the paramilitary units that carried out the massacre. It also rejected Bosnia's argument that the accumulated pattern of atrocities during the war, fueled by Serb nationalism and driven by Serbian weapons and money, was tantamount to responsibility for genocide.

Unusually for such an important case, the judges were in accord, voting overwhelmingly in unison on the various points of the decision with only one or two dissenters.

By 13-2, the court found that Serbia had the power to foresee and prevent the Srebrenica slaughter -- the worst on European soil since World War II -- and failed to use it. By 14-1 -- with only the Serbian judge against -- demanded Mladic's transfer.

In Bosnia, the clearing of Serbia of direct blame was met with anger.

"Shame on the people who reached such a verdict. How can they say not guilty of genocide when there are photos, video footage. They are again torturing our people, these mothers," said Zinaida Mujic, representative of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, who lost two sons in the war.

In Brussels, Friso Roscam Abbing, EU Commission spokesman, urged both sides to respect the judgment "to ensure justice and enable reconciliation to start." The EU has made Serbia's hopes for membership conditional on its cooperation in handing over Mladic and other fugitives.

Reading a summary of the ruling for nearly three hours, court president Judge Rosalyn Higgins said it had been clear in Belgrade there was a serious risk of a massive slaughter in Srebrenica, when some 7,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed.

Serbia's claim that it was powerless to prevent the massacres "hardly tallies with their known influence" over the Bosnian Serb army, the ruling said.

In a key ruling at the outset, Higgins rejected Serbia's argument that the court had no jurisdiction in the case. It said the former Yugoslavia had the obligation to abide by the 1948 Genocide Convention throughout the war, even though its membership in the UN had been suspended in 1992.
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