Letter to the BiH Presidency Re the ICJ Ruling, Bosnia vs. Serbia

TO: The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

His Excellence Zeljko Komsic, Chair of the Presidency
His Excellence Dr. Haris Silajdzic, member of Presidency
His Excellence Nebojsa Radmanovic, member of Presidency

Esteemed Excellences,

The Ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Serbia is the most serious verdict against a state since the founding of the ICJ.  With this Ruling of the ICJ, Serbia was proclaimed guilty based upon two fundaments of justice.

The first fundament is the responsibility of Serbia in not preventing genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

The second fundament is for not punishing genocide, and with respect to this, Serbia was proclaimed responsible for continuous violation of the Genocide Convention, in terms of refusing to surrender, to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), those indicted for the crime of genocide, Ratko Mladic being but a lead.

Since February 27, 2007, when the Ruling was announced, until today, Serbia has continued to violate the Genocide Convention, while the guarantor of the execution of the Ruling is the Security Council of the United Nations.

While Serbia was found guilty on two accounts, the state of BiH, as the initiator of the complaint, can not be fully satisfied. The ICJ has, in addition to assessing two levels of culpability of Serbia, freed Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide in BiH as well as genocide in Srebrenica. The ICJ has ruled that the crime of genocide was committed only in Srebrenica and nowhere else in BiH, and that the culpability for genocide in Srebrenica rests with the Republika Srpska (RS), or rather, with the military and police of RS.

Another element of displeasure is the passive, confusing, facetious and unexplainable attitude of the ICJ with respect to its knowledge about the existence of the secret and hidden documents, in the archives of Serbia, and in the ICTY, which documents were of significant importance to the legal process itself. The ICJ, when the public and media of the world were made aware of the existence of those secret and hidden documents, has not done anything to come into possession of same even when the BiH party officially requested a reaction from the ICJ with a view of gathering such documents.

Without prejudice to a possible different Ruling of the ICJ, in case that the ICJ had at its disposal such documentation, Congress of North American Bosniaks, an umbrella organization speaking on behalf of some 350,000 American and Canadian Bosniaks, is of opinion that the very process within the ICJ was substantially degraded, which has resulted in rendering an inadequate Ruling.

CNAB is of opinion that the ICJ has delivered a verdict which is not based upon international law and international standards and proscriptions which regulate the work of the ICJ.

CNAB requests of the elements of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to commence a procedure of establishing and informing the UN whether the ICJ has violated international law by way of ignoring, as well as refusing to act in order to come into possession of the hidden documentation, for which documentation the world media knew were hidden and protected at ICTY and in Serbia solely because of the legal process which was before the ICJ.

CNAB requests of the elements of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to undertake, in the current period of a possible revision of the process by the ICJ, to come into possession of the said documentation which has been hidden and protected in Serbia and at the ICTY, and all other documentation to support the initiation of the revision of the legal process.

CNAB requests of the elements of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to act with the Security Council of the United Nations so as to demand an urgent reaction given that Serbia has, for more than one year now, continued to violate the items of the Ruling, and that Serbia continues to violate the Genocide Convention by way of not apprehending Ratko Mladic and other indicted of crime of genocide by the ICTY.

CNAB requests that the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina send a request to the ICTY and Chief Prosecutor to remove the provision of secrecy, in further cases against certain Perisic, Seselj, Stanisic et al, enveloping the documents which the ICTY has given protection to, and which originate in the archives of Serbia. A particular responsibility for doing so rests with the President of the ICTY and the Chief Prosecutor. We expect of them to demonstrate initiative in all aspects, and to demand that the seal of secrecy and protection of such documents be removed.

CNAB requests of the Presidency of BiH to urgently publish the Ruling of the ICJ in the Official Gazette of BiH in English and the languages of the constitutive peoples of BiH.

CNAB requests of the Presidency to initiate a procedure, within UU and EU, for a lasting removal and cessation of the name of “MUP RS” and for LASTING prohibition of the existence of an organization under such name, since that organization was found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, according to the Ruling by the ICJ and rulings by the ICTY. The fundament of the Genocide Convention is primarily to prevent and punish the crime of genocide so as to prevent another Holocaust from taking place. By way of lasting cessation of the MUP of RS and by way of erasing its denominating label we, in fact, request that the article of the Genocide Convention in the area of preventing and punishing the crime of genocide be fully respected.

CNAB requests of the Presidency of BiH to act, in line with the Ruling of the ICJ, to forbid all of the members of the MUP of RS and VRS, of 1995, to work in the areas of security and intelligence of BiH, the future Police of BiH, as well as the Armed Forces of BiH.

CNAB requests of the Presidency of BiH to determine the very number of verdicts issued for the crime of genocide in Srebrenica by the jurisprudence of BiH and to demand that all those authorized to punish the crime of genocide, and failed to do so, be subjected to due process.

Respectfully yours,

Emir Ramic
President of the CNAB