In the analysis of the procedure for review of the lawsuit of BiH against Serbia that was done by Geoffrey Nice, former prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal in the case against Slobodan Milosevic, and his associate, Professor at the University of Amsterdam, Nevenka Tromp, they explained what was missed in the last 10 years of the collection of evidence for a credible application.
1.Geoffrey Nice, the UN war crimes prosecutor at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic in 2007 revealed the existence of a secret agreement between Carla del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal and Serbia – in the case against Milosevic were used secret evidence that the public was never aware of, and could not be used in procedure of the lawsuit of BiH against Yugoslavia before the International Court of Justice. Tromp and Nice wrote that, after finding out that there is key evidence that could link Serbia with genocide in BiH, the then Bosniak member of the Presidency of BiH Haris Silajdzic, and the Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader, did not ask the UN Security Council for a permission to reveal those documents.
2.The documents that were submitted in 2005 by the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Montenegro at the request of the ICTY. Seven documents – command of the Presidency of Yugoslavia and the president of SRJ Zoran Lilic, concerning the promotion of General Ratko Mladic, and which, according to many, directly indicate the relationship between Serbia and Srebrenica genocide. However, the documents requested application of protective measures. The agreement was signed by Prosecutor Carla del Ponte and President of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal Rasim Ljajic. No one has taken any steps to timely use these documents.
3.The discovery of a mass grave Tomasica in 2010. The scale of Tomasica showed that Prijedor was part of or the beginning of crimes that started in 1992 in North BiH (Krajina and Posavina) and completed in 1995 in the Drina Valley, and which can be qualified as genocide.
3.The decision of the Hague Tribunal in 2011 to lift the confidentiality of the documents and the recordings of the meeting of the Supreme Defense Council of Yugoslavia, from the case against General Momcilo Perisic.
4.The Judgment from 2011 to the officer of the Serbian MIA Vlastimir Djordjevic, who was found guilty of crimes in Kosovo. The judgment confirmed that Scorpions participated in the crimes at two locations in Kosovo in 1999 and were directly subordinate to the Serbian Interior Ministry, at a time when the crimes were committed. The same unit also committed crimes in Godinjske Bare in 1995.
5.The Judgment of Vujadin Popovic and others from 2013. They were convicted of genocide in Srebrenica. Popovic, Drago Nikolic, Radivoje Miletic, paid, promoted and retired members of the Army of Yugoslavia, thus Serbia.
6.Second instance verdict from 2015 to Zdravko Tolimir, also convicted of genocide in Srebrenica and Zepa. It was the first time that it was judged for genocide committed in a place other than Srebrenica.
The fields on which BiH could work and look for new evidence in the past ten years:
- All the officers who were found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica and who were in the service of the Yugoslav Army were de facto and de jure authorities in Serbia (there are videos that were subsequently found).
- Scorpions are de facto and de jure authority of the Serbian government, the Ministry of Interior – before, during and after the murder of young men in the vicinity of Srebrenica (potential field for new evidence).
- Pages of military records of officers, which are hidden from the public, due to the application of Serbia, and which could clearly demonstrate that certain officers were part of the Serbian authorities and not the VRS (Army of RS). A significant portion of notes of VRS officers is also inaccessible to the public during the process before the Hague Tribunal, because Serbia is trying to block the truth from the International Court of Justice. Justification of Serbia to seek classifying documents is a vital national interest.
- Another document that shows that Serbia participated in the war in BiH is a letter signed by the Minister of Justice of Serbia for the extradition of Ejup Ganic from London.
(Source: Radiosarajevo.ba)
