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killed by the same hand. Let them sleep their eternal sleep. Their
graves are a symbol of a major historical tragedy and a lasting warning
to our offspring. They are sacrifices for the homeland, faith and
freedom. Their sacrifices constitute the foundation of Republika
Srpska.” 518
The Serbian elite’s efforts to distance the Serbian state from
responsibility for war crimes received help from an unexpected
quarter, the International Court of Justice (icj) in The Hague. On
February 26, 2007, the icj declared that there was not sufficient evidence
to prove that the Serbian state was responsible for genocide
during the Bosnian war. 519 The icj found that although Serbia had
failed to fulfill its obligation to stop, and punish the perpetrators of,
the July 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, there was not enough evidence
that Serbia had assisted or financed the acts of genocide in Bosnia
and Herzegovina during the conflicts of the 1990s. Serbia was not
found guilty of responsibility for genocide when the genocide took
place; there was no clear evidence that the government in Belgrade
was aware that such a crime was being committed.
The icj, however, refused the Bosnian applicants’ request to
order Serbia to disclose an edited version of the minutes of the Serbian
Supreme Defense Council, the body in charge of the Yugoslav
army. Judges in the Milošević case had those minutes at their disposal
when they found that there was enough evidence to convict
Milošević on genocide charges in Bosnia—not only in Srebrenica in
1995, but in relation to events that had began in 1992.
The icj also said that because it had not been shown that the
genocide would have been averted if the fry had tried to prevent it,
“financial compensation for the failure to prevent the genocide at
Srebrenica is not the appropriate form of reparation.” However, the
518 Vecernje novosti, June 30, 2005 .
519 See, for instance, the report by Jeremy Bransten, “ICJ Bosnia Ruling Sets Important
Precedents,” February 27, 2007, Radio France Europe/Radio Liberty, reproduced at
http://www .globalpolicy .org/component/content/article/163-general/28681 .html .