News in English     | 11.07.2019. 19:23 |

Agius: Events in Srebrenica constituted genocide beyond reasonable doubt

FENA Hana Imamović

SREBRENICA, July 11 (FENA) - The judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague were the first legal acts that unambiguously established that genocide was committed in the then Safe Zone of the United Nations in Srebrenica, and that is not something that is decided by politicians but it is for the courts to adjudicate, said today Carmel Agius, President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), an institution that is the legal successor of the ICTY, in his address at the commemoration marking the 24th anniversary of the worst crime committed on the soil of Europe after the Second World War.

In addition to the expressed condolence to members of the families of those killed in Srebrenica, he noted that this court for more than 25 years has rendered international justice and, thanks to that, the international legal aspect has changed irreparably, as did the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina with respect to this event.

In his remarks, President Agius noted that the judgements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) were the first to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the events in Srebrenica in July 1995 constituted genocide, as subsequently confirmed by the Mechanism and other courts.

He spoke of the resulting changes in BiH, highlighting that thanks to the ICTY and the Mechanism, “those most responsible for the heinous crimes committed during the conflicts of the early 1990s have been brought to justice, an exhaustive historical record has been established, and the vast majority of those who were killed have at long last received a respectful burial.”

“The facts confirm that the genocide was carefully planned, systematically and brutally conducted in just a few days, and resulted in more than 8,000 Bosniak and Muslim boys and men killed. Their bodies were thrown into mass graves and then, they were exhumed years and decades later,” Agius said.

He noted that the consequences of the horrific killings are felt daily by surviving members of the families of the killed. They suffer while hearing heartless statements by those who deny genocide despite the enormous amount of evidence and the judgments of international courts.

“The goal of the negation of genocide is to hurt you. This is one of the ways in which genocide continues - its intention is to prevent healing, to hurt and disempower the victims. It is being used for political advantage by leaders who seek to gain from having an ethnically-divided BiH that remains stuck in the past,” underlined Agius.

He called on all those present in Potočari, at a place where monstrous crimes were committed, to unite in raising their voice against hatred and for taking responsibility for fighting such phenomena.

 

(FENA) S. R.

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