Serbian Authorities look to extradite former Bosnian President
Jennifer Glasse | London 05 March 2010
--Voice of America--

The alleged war crime they wish to prosecute Ganic for occurred in 1992. In 2003 lawyers at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague looked at the case drawn up by a Serbian military court and ruled there was not enough evidence to charge anyone with war crimes, or even that a war crime had been committed. Gentle believes the Serbs do not have a case now either.

"On the basis of what I've seen thus far I think the Serbian request is fundamentally flawed and obviously I've seen the independent evidence which has been supplied in court today and it seems to me that the Serbian request is misconceived," Gentle added.

In court another of Ganic's attorneys said the Serbian request was clearly political and timed to coincide with the appearance at The Hague tribunal of the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Ganic's daughter, Emina Ganic, says the accusations show that Serbia is still fighting its wartime enemies.

"It is a desire to show a certain parity that doesn't exist and to blur the lines between aggressors and those who stood in defense of one country. They will not be successful in this," she said.

Emina Ganic says the longer the court process goes on, the more damaging it is to relations between Bosnia and Serbia and Bosnia and the United Kingdom. There are two court proceedings next week. On Tuesday, both sides will begin to lay out their cases for and against extradition. On Thursday, Ganic's lawyers will again try to get him freed on bail.

Rageh Omaar Report, The Secret Life of Radovan Karadzic

"Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you."

-Last Sermon, Prophet Muhammad


Ethics of reciprocity = the golden rule

Serbian atrocities during Bosnian War haunt the recent attempt of the Serbian state to apply for E.U. membership.

Serbia submits EU membership application
(BBC.CO.UK)14:42 GMT, Tuesday, 22 December 2009


The Srebrenica Massacre --wiki--(1995)

The Srebrenica Massacre, also known as the Srebrenica Genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, as well as the ethnic cleansing of 25,000-30,000 refugees in the area of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladić during the Bosnian War. In addition to the VRS, a paramilitary unit from Serbia known as the Scorpions, that officially operated as part of the Serbian Interior Ministry until 1991, also participated in the massacre. The United Nations had declared Srebrenica a UN-protected "safe area" but that did not prevent the massacre, even though 400 armed Dutch peacekeepers were present at the time.

The Srebrenica massacre is the largest mass murder in Europe since World War II. In 2004, in a unanimous ruling on the "Prosecutor v. Krstić" case, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) located in The Hague ruled that the Srebrenica massacre was genocide, the Presiding Judge Theodor Meron stating:

"By seeking to eliminate a part of the Bosnian Muslims, the Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica, a group which was emblematic of the Bosnian Muslims in general. They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity."

The Siege of Sarajevo --wiki-- (1992-1996)

The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the self-proclaimed Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army (later to become the Army of Serbia and Montenegro) besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996 during the Bosnian War.

After Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence from Yugoslavia, the Serbs, whose strategic goal was to create a new Serbian State of Republika Srpska (RS) that would include part of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, encircled Sarajevo with a siege force of 18,000 stationed in the surrounding hills, from which they assaulted the city with weapons that included artillery, mortars, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine-guns, multiple rocket launchers, rocket-launched aircraft bombs, and sniper rifles. From May 2, 1992, the Serbs blockaded the city. The Bosnian government defence forces numbering roughly 40.000 inside the besieged city were poorly equipped and unable to break the siege.

It is estimated that nearly 10,000 people were killed or went missing in the city, including over 1,500 children. An additional 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children. By 1995, killings and forced migration had reduced the city’s population to 334,663 - 64% of its prewar size.

The Mystery of Bosnia's Ancient Pyramids

An amateur archaeologist says he's discovered the world's oldest pyramids in the Balkans. But many experts remain dubious

Smithsonian magazine, December 2009

Serbia: Kosovo Independence Declaration Threatens World Order
Many countries with their own breakaway republics closely following case
12-01-2009

The International Court of Justice has begun hearing Serbia's case against Kosovo. Judges in The Hague have been asked by the U.N. General Assembly to rule on the legality of Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence. Lawyers for Serbia argued that Kosovo's move not only challenged Serbia's sovereignty, but undermined international law. Harvard Law Professor Andreas Zimmermann is one of the lawyers arguing Serbia's case in court.

"With all due respect to the actors involved, it was certainly not helpful - to say the least - for the mediator appointed by the [U.N.] secretary-general to refer publicly to Serbia as a thief that had stolen Kosovo from the Albanian Kosovo population, as if Serbia did not have a valid title to the territory ever since 1913," Zimmermann said.

And even before that, say Serbia's lawyers, Kosovo had been the "historical cradle of Serbia," one of the "essential pillars of its identity."

But Kosovo Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni told the court it would be "inconceivable" to reopen negotiations with Serbia on Kosovo's future. He said that "would be highly disruptive, and could even spark new conflict in the region."

Ten years ago Belgrade attacked separatists in what was then its southern province, killing about 10,000 Kosovo Albanians and displacing close to a million more. NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days. The United Nations then set up a provisional government in Kosovo.

But when the region declared independence last year, which Serbia says violated the U.N. and thus international law, 63 nations recognized Kosovo's sovereignty. The United States and most European Union members are among them, although Russia and the U.N. Security Council are not.

Many of those countries will make their own arguments before the court during the next nine days. While judges are not expected to rule on the legality of Kosovo's move for months, many countries that have their own problems with breakaway republics are closely following this case.