Landmark Ruling
February 25, 2007
The UN's top court cleared Serbia of direct responsibility for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide of Bosnian Muslims, but said Belgrade had failed to prevent genocide, thereby violating international law.
"The court finds that Serbia has not committed genocide," Rosalyn Higgins, the president of the International Court of Justice, said.
In the same ruling, the court judged that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide, but one that "cannot be attributable to the respondent (Serbia)." The court ruled that other mass killings of Bosnian Muslims did not amount to genocide.
The court added that although Serbia had violated its obligations to Bosnia because it did not try to prevent the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims, Belgrade would not have to pay financial compensation.
Genocide was made an international crime under a 1948 treaty but no UN court has ever given a ruling against an individual country. Bosnia has accused Serbia of masterminding the widespread "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 war, saying it was similar to the extermination campaigns of the Nazis in World War II.
The Bosnian government had demanded reparations while Serbia insisted the top UN court has no jurisdiction in the matter. Monday's ruling is final; no appeal is possible.
Unique case
The case was also unique in that it covered the whole of the war in Bosnia. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the UN's ad hoc war-crimes court, has handed down many verdicts relating to Bosnia but they were limited to certain events or the guilt of key people.
The only trial that tackled the whole of the Bosnian war and Serbia's involvement was that of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. But it was never concluded since Milosevic died last March before the proceedings ended.
In hearings before the ICJ in February last year Bosnia asked the court to conclude that the killings and rapes during the Bosnian war were "international genocide" orchestrated by Belgrade. Proving genocide requires establishing intent to destroy a group, in whole or in part, as well as demonstrating that genocidal acts took place.
The trial was given evidence about events such as the massacre of Muslims from the town of Srebrenica near the end of the war. After capturing the town, Serb forces summarily killed some 8,000 men and boys who had try to flee. The ICTY has already handed down two individual genocide convictions against Serbian officers.
Hard to prove
Prior to the ruling, legal experts said that proving Serbia as a state or Milosevic as its president had the intent to commit genocide would be extremely difficult.
"Even if they rule Serbia was involved in the war and that acts of genocide were committed you can say that was genocide committed by (Bosnian Serb army commander) Ratko Mladic, but it will be harder to say it was committed by Milosevic," international law expert Heikelina Verrijn Stuart told AFP.
"The ICJ can rule that there was involvement of Serbia in the war, that there were incidents of genocide, like the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, but that involvement of Belgrade in the genocide is not proven."
No jurisdiction?
Serbia had argued that the ICJ has no jurisdiction in the matter because the Bosnian complaint was filed against the rump Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in 1993 -- later replaced by Serbia and Montenegro -- which only became a UN member in 2000. The ICJ only has jurisdiction over UN member states.
Serbia had also said a ruling against it would be unjust and had left a lasting black mark on the nation, which overthrew wartime leader Milosevic in 2000.