That Someone Guilty Be Punished - Open Society Foundations

of the role of Serbian institutions in backing atrocities perpetrated in large part by Bosnian
and Croatian Serb forces and that, having acknowledged the truth, members of Serbian society
will condemn criminal actions by Serbian officials committed in their name. 206 As discussed
further in Chapter V, there have been recent indications of limited progress in this regard
(alongside several notable instances of enduring denial). Similar considerations loom large for
Bosnian Serbs who support the ICTY’s work, some of whom have worked tirelessly to educate
other Bosnian Serbs about the facts confirmed in ICTY judgments. But for Bosniak victims in
particular, the ICTY’s role in piercing denial is a matter of justice.
For many, Bosnian Serbs’ acceptance of and expressed remorse about the truth is an
essential condition of social repair. Edin Ramulić, who survived internment in Keraterm but
whose brother did not, says that for him, reconciliation means “above all” that the Serbs who
were responsible for these abominations “admit what was committed.” 207 Kada Hotić, whose
husband and brother were among those murdered in Srebrenica, 208 recalls that “when the
Hague Tribunal was established it gave us a big hope, not only to convict criminals…but
we expected to have the truth in this country revealed and proved, because we have a big
problem here regarding acknowledgement of the truth.” 209 But in the absence of such acknowledgment,
many Bosniaks believe it matters enormously that the ICTY has at least produced
“the evidence and proof that will someday make [Bosnian Serbs] understand they lied to
themselves.” 210
While the importance of Serbs’ acknowledgement of atrocities committed by Serbs
loomed large in our interviews, Bosnian intellectuals also pointed to the importance of Bosniak
and Croat acknowledgement of crimes committed by members of their own ethnic groups as
an important benchmark of the success of the ICTY’s work. As one person pointed out, just as
many Serbs have been unwilling to acknowledge the extent and nature of crimes committed
by Serbs, many Bosniaks have been unwilling to condemn abuses committed by the Bosnian
Army against Serbs and Croats, concerned that “this could be seen as equalizing guilt.” 211
Implicitly, then, these individuals measure the Tribunal’s accomplishments in part by the
degree to which each ethnic group in Bosnia is able to acknowledge and condemn atrocities
committed by members of its own group.
A number of our Bosnian interlocutors recognized that there is some measure of tension
between the importance they attach to this type of acknowledgment and another principle
they associate with the ICTY, which they also consider important. Across ethnic lines our interlocutors
in Bosnia expressed support for the proposition that criminal guilt is individual—a
point that ICTY officials have been at pains to emphasize from the outset of the Tribunal’s
work. To suggest that Serbs should acknowledge the guilt of Serb defendants, a number of
our interlocutors noted, may reinforce the all-too-prevalent ethnicization of Bosnian discourse
about war crimes. Yet many who made this point also stressed the importance they attach to
the goal of widespread acknowledgment within each ethnic group that members of their group
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