30 May 2013 - ICTY

49249
activity of the Serb forces was triggered by military operations of the enemy forces. 5108 I fully
acknowledge that establishing and maintaining Serb military and civilian control was often
accompanied by the commission of crimes, including crimes against humanity. The
Judgement finds so on many occasions. A full analysis of the facts in this case thus requires to
keep in mind this duality in the operations.
2411. The formation of Serb units, their training, supporting, financing, supplying, or
organizing their involvement and directing them in combat operations, as described in detail
in the Judgement, furthered by their very nature the territorial claims of Serb leaders in wide
areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It may also have furthered the forcible and
permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs from those areas and the crimes committed
to that end.
2412. Is there any need to determine whether the intent of the Accused was limited to, or
whether it went beyond, the establishment and maintenance of Serb military and civilian
control, when the operations were accompanied by the commission of crimes resulting in the
departure of non-Serbs? Is it not enough that the Accused knew of the reasonable risk that
crimes would be committed in various operations by forces which had previously shown their
propensity to criminal behaviour? Forces that were sometimes under their control, as
explained in the Judgement. Does it make any difference whether the Accused intended the
crimes to be committed as a means to achieve the common purpose of the forcible and
permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs or whether they were just aware of the
likelihood that those crimes would be committed in the operations they supported and that
they were indifferent to their commission? From a legal perspective, it does.
2413. Much evidence on the formation, training, organizing the involvement, financing,
directing, supplying, and supporting of Serb forces focused on practical matters such as: who
provided the weapons, how training camps were set up, who provided training to whom,
where the money came from, under whose command the Serb forces operated, and to whom
they were subordinated in the context of that operation. All of these activities are consistent
with providing support to either the establishment and maintenance of Serb military and
civilian control, or with furthering the commission of crimes aimed at achieving the common
purpose, or both. In my view, establishing and maintaining Serb military and civilian control
need not go hand-in-hand with moving out the non-Serb population. As such, even if one
were to find that establishing and maintaining such control was accompanied by crimes like
5108 See e.g. the Skelani operation in 1993, see chapter 6.3.3 in relation to the Skelani camp.
Case No. IT-03-69-T 869
30 May 2013