In a landmark judgement on 26 February 2007, the ICJ stated that "Serbia has violated the obligation to prevent genocide…that occurred in Srebrenica in July 1995", when Bosnian Serb forces killed more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men.
But the Court said that the state "has not committed genocide" directly or "conspired" to do so. Accordingly, it did not order Serbia to pay financial recompense to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would have amounted to several billion euro if direct state involvement had been proven.
"Financial compensation is not the appropriate form of reparation for the breach of the obligation to prevent genocide," the judgment said. The Court refers to Article IX of the 1948 "Genocide Convention" which prohibits states themselves, through an organ or group, from committing genocide.
The carefully worded judgement is meant to come as a sign of appeasement for all parties in the region in its aspiration to eventual EU membership.
However, the highest UN Court also judged that Serbia failed to comply with its obligation to pursue war crimes and called on the Serbian government to deliver alleged war criminal Radko Mladic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The EU has repeatedly urged Serbia to co-operate with the ICTY and hand over Mladic (EurActiv 13/02/07).
Commission spokesperson Friso Roscam Abbing called on Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to "accept and fully respect the judgement". He added: "It is important to establish individual responsibility for crimes committed during the 1992-95 wars to ensure justice and enable reconciliation to start." The Commission urged "both Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to once more reinforce their efforts fully to co-operate with the ICTY".
The judgement was condemned by Muslims and Croats in Bosnia. "Europe has once again showed it is against Muslims," said Munira Subasic, president of an association representing women who survived the Srebrenica massacre. The Muslim member of the tripartite Bosnian Presidency, Haris Silajdic, also deplored the ruling in an address on national television.
