The Srebrenica Massacre - Nova Srpska Politicka Misao

Securing Verdicts: The Misuse of Witness Testimony at The Hague
areas of the territory of the former Yugoslavia through the commission
of crimes, in violation of Articles 2 to 5 of the Statute
of the Tribunal. 23
Nice took up this theme in February 2002, during his opening address
at the start of the Milosevic trial. “The army,” Nice declared, “was
no better, it having committed itself to the accused’s programme. Officers,
being instilled with the ideology of brotherhood and unity, totally
abandoned everything—in it in favour of a Greater Serbia. They shared
the arrogance, as did the army of the civilian leaders, and saw no reason
to confer.” 24 That the Milosevic trial judges themselves assumed the
truth of the ICTY prosecution case—that Milosevic committed his alleged
crimes in pursuit of his goal of creating a Greater Serbia—was
clear from their dismissal, in June 2004, of the court-appointed amici’s
acquittal motion. The judges declared:
On the basis of the inference that may be drawn from the evidence…a
Trial Chamber could be satisfied beyond reasonable
doubt that the Accused was a participant in the joint criminal
enterprise, found by the Trial Chamber…to include the Bosnian
Serb leadership, and that he shared with its participants the
aim and intention to destroy a part of the Bosnian Muslims as
a group….On the basis of the evidence as to—(1) the overall
leadership position of the Accused among the Serbian people,
including the Bosnian Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina; (2) the
Accused’s advocacy of and support for the concept of a Greater
Serbia; (3) the logistical and financial support from Serbia to
the Bosnian Serbs, which it is reasonable to infer was provided
with the knowledge and support of the Accused; the logistical
support is illustrated by the close relationship of VJ personnel
with the VRS; (4) the nature of the Accused’s relationship and
involvement with the Bosnian Serb political and military leadership.
25
However, in August 2005, much to the judges’ apparent astonishment,
prosecutor Nice announced, during the testimony of Serb Radical
Party leader, Vojislav Seselj, that not only had Milosevic not
advocated and supported the concept of a Greater Serbia, but that the
prosecution had never even claimed that he had. “We’ve always accepted,”
Nice said, “that the accused has either never used the words
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