Virtual Vita Nuova

Srebrenica Anniversary: The Design of Crime

11 Jul 2010 2 Comments

by jasminatesanovic in Uncategorized Tags: genocide, Hannah Arendt, Karadzic, Kosovo, Milosevic, Mladic, Scorpions, Srebrenica, Tadic, The Suitcase, Women in Black, Zene u Crnom

Today is the 15th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia, where more than 8000 Muslim male civilians were killed and their bodies buried in mass graves scattered all over the region. Slobodan Milosevic, the president of Serbia at the time of the killing, died in the Hague in 2006, before any verdict was reached in his trial. The UN Dutch troops present in the enclave of Srebrenica at the time, in order to protect the civilians, did not face any charges for failing in their duty. Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader responsible of  designing this crime  is currently on trial in The Hague, at the International War Crime Tribunal. General Ratko Mladic, whose troops carried out the massacre under his orders, is still at large.

In the year 2007, Serbia proper was found guilty of failing to prevent the genocide, but not for actually committing it. Many of the large number of people and troops involved in liquidating the Srebrenica prisoners never appeared before any court.  Others received very mild sentences for smaller misdeeds, such as the six members of the paramilitary troops “Scorpions.” More