Crimes before the Tribunal: Prijedor

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, organised a screening of documentary film “Crimes before the Tribunal: Prijedor” in Sarajevo.

The documentary speaks about the crimes committed in Prijedor municipality, as well as the trials for those crimes conducted before the Hague Tribunal.

Through testimonies by survivors and materials presented at the trials, the film reconstructs war crimes committed in Prijedor and describes how they were discovered and processed before the Tribunal. 

The screening was attended, among others, by representatives of the Association of Victims from Prijedor. Edin Ramulic of the Izvor Association from Prijedor says that the documentary is another way of preventing the denial of committed crimes.

However, Ramulic pointed out that “the worst things suffered by people, who were detained and mistreated in various facilities, are not depicted in this film.”

Nerma Jelacic, Head of the Communications Section at the ICTY, explained that “the biggest horrors suffered by those people have not been included in this film so that the film can be screened to a younger audience, from schools and faculties.”

Jelacic said that the goal was to show the documentary on TV stations, not only those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also abroad.

“Crimes before the Tribunal: Prijedor” is the second full-length documentary film produced by “The Outreach Programme”, which is trying to bring the ICTY’s work closer to local communities in the former Yugoslavia.

The documentary has already been screened in Belgrade and Novi Sad.