In early January 2020, media in Serbia and Republika Srpska entity reported the sensational news that the archives of the British Defense Ministry, which had recently been removed from secrecy, contained important evidence that genocide had not occurred in Srebrenica.
This news was used by Serbia and RS authorities to launch a new campaign to deny genocide against Bosniaks.
Legal experts in Serbia have pointed out in several analyzes that the publication of British reports on Srebrenica will not change anything since the claims from the said reports have been challenged before The Hague tribunal, that is, the evidence from those reports is not news and that the defense of the accused criminals failed to prove their truth before The Hague tribunal.
“But the main question that will interest Serbian readers no doubt is: does this information from the disclosed British papers call into question The Hague tribunal’s verdicts? The answer to this natural question is unambiguous – ‘no’.
This is clear under Article 115 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence in The Hague Tribunal, in particular under paragraph (B).
The proposed new evidence, in order to appear admissible, would have to be relevant, of a kind that would significantly affect the outcome of the trial if they were presented in a timely manner and, most importantly, that they were not available during the main trial.
None of the disclosed information is an essential novelty and does not fit into these criteria. All of the main points, the absence of a plan to take Srebrenica, the failure to carry out demilitarization and attacks carried out from the protected zone, could and have been proven in the Srebrenica trials using various other evidence, Vijesti.ba news portal reports.
