Byzantine Blog

Not Guilty — Serbia Cleared of Genocide Charges

Article by Nebojsa Malic

After years of deliberations and challenges over competency, the International Court of Justice rejected charges of genocide pressed against Serbia by the Muslim-dominated government of Bosnia-Herzegovina during the civil war in that country:

“Serbia has not committed genocide, through its organs or persons whose acts engage its responsibility under customary international law,” says the verdict, posted on the ICJ website in its entirety. Furthermore, Serbia has “not conspired to commit genocide, nor incited the commission of genocide” and “has not been complicit in genocide.”

The ICJ does blame Serbia for failing to prevent genocide (sic) in Srebrenica, but the verdict says that arresting Ratko Mladic and fully submitting to the ICTY would “constitute appropriate satisfaction” and rejects any claims for payment of compensation.

Entire article by Nebojsa Malic

And an illuminating comment by the same author/historian on his blog:

I did want to share a memory from the war in Sarajevo, concerning some reactions to the verdict coming from Bosnian Muslims. For years, they’ve been convinced of the righteousness of their cause and their claim before the ICJ. Now that the court has said their “evidence” failed to prove their point, they reject the court itself and once again wallow in the wronged victim mentality.

Well, back in the early 1990s, after Alija Izetbegovic rejected yet another peace plan because it didn’t give his regime enough land, a joke appeared in Sarajevo that went something like this:

Mujo and Suljo are sitting down, drinking coffee and smoking in proper silence. At some point, Mujo asks, “Suljo, what do you get when you add one and one?”

Suljo ponders for a moment, sips his coffee, shakes the ashes off the cigarette, and replies, “Two.”

Mujo sighs, shakes his head, and says, “Not enough.”

Felix Quigley has started a series of articles about Srebrenica over at IsraPundit. Part One titled “How the Court set up the Big Lie against the Serbs” unveils the general (and ICJ’s) bias against the Serbs deeply entrenched in the West regarding the civil wars in former Yugoslavia, particularly regarding the Bosnian civil war, and draws clear parallels between prevalent anti-Israeli/anti-Serbian sentiments West largely shares, while favoring the Arab and Balkan Muslims.

Cartoon by Ranko Guzina (Serbia)