International court: Serbia not accomplice in
genocide, no reparations to Bosnia
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - February 26, 2007, Monday
Text of report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet
The Hague, 26 February: Serbia did not commit genocide in Bosnia-Hercegovina in
1992-1995, nor did it plan or encourage it, the International Court of Justice
ruled today.
The presiding judge of the court, Rosalyn Higgins, from Great Britain, read out
the sentence, adding that the decision was made today with 13 votes in favour
and two against. She said this after reading out the explanations of the court
decision for three hours.
The court made the following decisions:
- Serbia is not an accomplice in genocide (11 voted for and four against).
- The International Court of Justice ruled that Serbia had violated its
obligation to prevent genocide in Srebrenica in 1995 (13 for and two against).
- Serbia failed to cooperate with the Hague tribunal because it did not hand
over [former Bosnian Serb Army CGS] Gen Ratko Mladic (14 for and one against).
- Serbia is obliged to assume everything in its power to punish the perpetrators
of genocide and individuals charged with genocide, as well as other criminals,
and transfer them to The Hague (14 for and one against).
With 13 votes in favour and two against, it was also decided that there is no
basis to make Serbia pay for reparations to Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Ten judges voted for and five against the case that this court was authorized to
decide in the case.
This way ended the case between Bosnia-Hercegovina and Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (later Serbia-Montenegro and, finally, Serbia) over genocide in
Bosnia-Hercegovina charges in 1992-1995.
The lawsuit was filed at the International Court of Justice on 20 March 1993.
The ruling of the International Court of Justice is final.
Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian
1203 gmt 26 Feb 07
Copyright 2007 British Broadcasting Corporation
Posted for Fair Use only.