The Srebrenica Massacre - Nova Srpska Politicka Misao

Securing Verdicts: The Misuse of Witness Testimony at The Hague
his feet to object. The names of witnesses had to be kept secret. The
mere assertion of the existence of such witnesses would have to suffice.
Even the presiding judge was a little taken aback. Did the prosecutor intend
to present the testimonies of these witnesses to the tribunal? “We
were not intending to do so, your Honour,” the prosecutor answered. 79
The judge was stunned: Surely, the tribunal knows how to handle
witness testimony without revealing the identity of witnesses. After all,
“[T]he Tribunal cannot judge a man about whom it is said that in the
Prosecutor’s case files there are testimonies which are significant, and
which the Tribunal is not aware of.” A perfectly reasonable point, but
the judge knew better than to question prosecutors and promptly
dropped the matter.
Erdemovic’s Co-Perpetrators
In short, the ICTY has never conducted a proper investigation of this
massacre OR of this key witness’ testimony. The narrative it constructed
was simply too politically useful to require any corroborating evidence.
To confirm Erdemovic’s account, ICTY investigators would go to a
warehouse, find bullet-holes in the wall and declare that this confirmed
that it was an execution site. Yet Erdemovic’s most important evidence
was his naming of the fellow-members of the 10th Sabotage Detachment
who, he claimed, took part in the executions with him. The ICTY
made no effort to track them down. This was very strange, for at least
two reasons. First, the ICTY operates in accordance with the civil-law
system. This means an investigation into a crime doesn’t stop merely
because a suspect has confessed. Second, the ICTY had within its grasp
at least two of Erdemovic’s named co-killers, yet elected not to take
them into custody.
Erdemovic claimed repeatedly that the commander of the 10th Sabotage
Detachment was one Milorad Pelemis. In 2000, the Serbian authorities
arrested Pelemis charging him with spying for France (the
Spider group). In November 2000, one month after the coup against
Milosevic, Pelemis and the rest of his group were acquitted on all
charges. At no time during his imprisonment did the ICTY seek to extradite
Pelemis, or even to interview him. The ICTY’s lack of curiosity
was remarkable. According to its statute, it is supposed to try and convict
anyone who committed war crimes. Pelemis, had seniority over
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