Tribunal Delays Return of Srebrenica Victims’ Belongings

Damir Alic, lawyer for the victims of the 1995Srebrenica massacre, says he fears that the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, ICTY, will not hand over any time soon the stored items of victims that were found in mass graves.

Alic, who represents the victims together with a team of lawyers, recalled to BIRN – Justice Report that last October they asked the United Nations to abolish the immunity from prosecution of Carla del Ponte, former chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, so she could be prosecute dover the destruction of items found in the mass graves.

Several years ago, the lawyers launched an investigation regarding the destroyed items, which showed that about 1,000items found in the graves were destroyed in 2005 and 2006.

They hold del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the tribunal from 1999 to 2007, responsible for this action.

“We collected a lot of evidence that points out exactly to del Ponte and the persons around her,” Alic said.

However, since the ICTY clearly did not want to process del Ponte over the matter, the lawyers last October asked the UN to remove her immunity and so allow her prosecution.

Prosecution remains highly unlikely. Just over six months ago, the UN appointed her as lead investigator into the civil war inSyria.

Meanwhile, Alic recalled, the Hague Prosecution has said that the preserved items of the victims will not be returned to Bosnia until the war crime trials are not completed.

“We want this resolved as soon as possible,rather than in 2015 or 2017,” he said.

According to him, Serge Brammertz, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, promised to submit photographs of the preserved items, such as glasses, IDs or parts of clothing, to be placed in the Memorial Center in Potocari so that the families can start the process of identification.

“He promised last year that he would send high-resolution photographs that could be used for identification, to determine what belong to whom,” Alic said.

“But we did not get these photos. It is obvious that this is down to the bureaucratic slowness in The Hague Tribunal and for these reasons we are not satisfied,” he added.

Alic maintains that about 90 per cent the preserved items should be classed as personal, and it is essential that they be returned.

Lawyers representing the victims of Srebrenica and Brammertz have different opinions over whether some items – such as the bandages used to tie the hand and cover the eyes of the victims before they were killed – are personal belongings.

“In our interpretation, the bandages used for the hands and eyes [of victims] are also private property,” he said.

“These items were found in mass graves.However, Brammertz’s stance is that bandages used specifically for eyes cannot be called private property,” Alic said.

The matter of seeking the removal of Del ponte’s immunity continues.

“Till now, we have no more information about what is happening within the UN. We know it is going very slowly,” Alic said.

“However, we have unofficially learned that the Department of Legal Affairs is in the phase of preparing a case.

“So, we assume that the commission that should investigate all the actions undertaken by del Ponte since artefacts from the Srebrenica victims were destroyed will be formed soon,” he said.

Alic added that the liability of other employees of the Hague Tribunal would also be investigated.

“We will seek to establish the responsibility of other persons who still work at The Hague Tribunal for the destroyed artefacts,” Alic said.