The prosecution of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina before international, domestic and national courts of other jurisdictions Cover Image

Procesuiranje genocida u Bosni i Hercegovini pred međunarodnim, domaćim i inostranim sudovima
The prosecution of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina before international, domestic and national courts of other jurisdictions

Author(s): Vedad Gurda
Subject(s): International Law, Local History / Microhistory, Military history, Social history, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: JU Zavod za zaštitu i korištenje kulturno-historijskog i prirodnog naslijeđa
Keywords: genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina; genocide in Srebrenica; the specific intent; judgments on genocide;

Summary/Abstract: The subject matter of this research paper is the crime of genocide as the “crime of crimes”, its legal elements and prosecution in Bosnia and Herzegovina before various judicial forums. The author gives an overview of relevant judicial decisions of international judicial bodies such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice, as well as decisions of national courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany ensued from criminal proceedings instituted against a number of persons and states as the subjects of public law. It is well-known to professional and general public that the international,as well as the national courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina have qualified the atrocities of apocalyptic proportions perpetrated in Srebrenica in July 1995 as the crime - the criminal offence of genocide. However, on the sidelines of international and domestic collective memory has remained the fact that the German courts on the basis of universal jurisdiction have established that the crime of genocide had been committed in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina - in Doboj, Kotor Varoš, Osmaci near Zvornik and Foca. Besides, this paper analyzes the constituting legal elements of this crime primarily on the basis of jurisprudence of the international and national courts of the above referred countries, thereby advocating the need for a reinterpretation of certain elements of genocide vis-à-vis the accepted jurisprudence of mentioned courts, and offering the proposals for the novel legal definition of genocide.

  • Issue Year: 4/2015
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 35-68
  • Page Count: 34
  • Language: Bosnian