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Court clears Serbia of genocide
Bosnians sought a guilty verdict at the court in The Hague
The UN's highest court has cleared Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide during the 1990s Bosnian war.
But the International Court of Justice did rule that Belgrade had violated international law by failing to prevent the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.
Bosnians sought a guilty verdict at the court in The Hague
The UN's highest court has cleared Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide during the 1990s Bosnian war.
But the International Court of Justice did rule that Belgrade had violated international law by failing to prevent the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.
The legal details escape me, but I gather that this verdict was somewhat expected.
In another tribunal (ICTY), the Srebrenica crimes commited by Bosnian Serbs have been characterized as genocide and individuals have been found guilty of genocide. However, the case that Bosnian Serbs were completely controlled by Serbia was never proven beyond doubt. I think Milosevic's trial went some way into proving it, but since he died halfway through we never found out how it would have ended.
At least it was always my opinion that Milosevic could pressure Bosnian Serbs to do almost anything he wanted, however they weren't simply executioners of his plans, they had a mind of their own. Of course, nowadays everyone who's still alive is covering his ass and these states aren't exactly German in keeping records, so we'll probably never know the full truth of who ordered what and how (not to mean that we shouldn't keep trying).
This also means that Croatia's case against Serbia in the same court is also likely going to fail. I can't say I care. We can live without financial compensation from Serbia (which they can't afford anyway). Bosnian muslims are starved for cash on the other hand, so it would have been a big boost to them to have recieved a couple of billion dollars.
Russia, China IIRC and probably some others), and the court does not do historic stuff, like WWII.
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