If it is proven in the forthcoming ICTY trial of Bosnian Serb wartime military leader Ratko Mladic that the authorities in Belgrade were in contact with him when the genocide in Srebrenica was committed, that would be grounds to review Bosnia and Herzegovina's genocide lawsuit against Serbia at the International Court of Justice, Bosnia's representative before the ICJ, Sakib Softic, told Dnevni Avaz daily on Tuesday.
"Now it's enough that there is a ruling in the Mladic case saying in several sentences that in Belgrade they knew what Mladic intended to do (in Srebrenica) or what was going on," Softic was quoted as saying.
He explained that if the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) confirmed that Belgrade knew Mladic would commit genocide against Srebrenica's Bosniaks, that would be crucial for renewing proceedings before the ICJ.
Ruling in Bosnia's suit against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), namely Serbia as its successor, the ICJ in February 2007 rejected Serbia's responsibility for genocide but found that Bosnian Serb troops committed genocide in Srebrenica with the logistical support of the FRY army and that Belgrade was obliged to help arrest those involved in those crimes.
According to Softic, the problem in proving Serbia's involvement in the Srebrenica genocide in 1995 was the prosecution's inability to obtain transcripts of phone conversations between Mladic and FRY President Slobodan Milosevic at the time of Srebrenica's fall. The ICTY had those transcripts, which were submitted by Belgrade, but did not give them to the ICJ under an agreement between former ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte and Belgrade.
Under ICJ rules, Bosnia may file a motion for a retrial against FRY within 10 years of the ruling, provided there is new evidence.
Filing a motion would require a decision of the Bosnian Presidency, but it is not likely that its Serb member, Nebojsa Radmanovic, would agree to it.
