Ruling As A Basis For Genocide

Serbia did not commit genocide in Bosnia. This ruling is not only unjust, but it represents the foundation for the next genocide in Bosnia.

Ever since the first news of the International Tribunal's ruling arrived, responses from the entire region have been abundant. Croatia is embittered and, along with the bitterness arrived defeatism in regard to Croatia's charges against Serbia. Of course, the question that is immediately raised is why we should prosecute criminals if the world considers this verdict just. Nevertheless, we have heard those voices before, even without this verdict, so the same voices say it again, only somewhat louder.

Bosnian rage 

Still, the reactions from Bosnia are much more serious. The injustice relates directly to that country. The Republic of Serbia's gloating is not helping matters at all. To the contrary, it is shameful. Banja Luka is a town that was left without almost half of its inhabitants. It is a "murdered" town. Non-Serbian inhabitants are just rare enough for one to be able to say that Banja Luka has died.

Serbia's fortune

In Serbia, on the other hand, they are celebrating, convinced that the ruling has taken the stigma of the "genocide people" off Serbs. Again, this is not only untrue, but also stands in complete opposition to what is really happening in the aftermath of this verdict. Considering that the Tribunal has decided that the state Serbia is not responsible for the Srebrenica genocide, there are no other victims to blame but Serbian people. They can no longer get Milosevic, and Karadzic and Mladic cannot show their faces from inside the holes they crawled into. Only Serbs can be blamed because it weren't the Chinese who killed eight thousand people in Srebrenica alone. The strengthening of the stigma of the "genocide people" is only another injustice of this ruling.  

On the other hand, not a single Serb who has done absolutely nothing against Milosevic's state will be able to converse any more peacefully with his neighbours. They are not guilty, but they will not get rid of the responsibility that easily. Let us not even discuss those who gave their vote to such a policy. 

What would happen if things were different 

However, what would happen if the ruling had been different? What would happen if the Serbian state had been pronounced guilty and convicted for genocide? Justice would be served. That is certainly true. But what if Serbia really had to pay the damages?

The economically destroyed Serbia, which also means destroyed in every other respect, would be a constant threat to the region. This would not be of any use to anyone. Even if it has become corny to bring up history, it can really teach us lessons in this instance.  

The political heads of Bosnia and Herzegovina should also take their part of the responsibility for such a ruling. What were those charges supposed to serve? If justice was the goal, it would and it will be written by history. And if damages were the goal, then the intentions were also truly dangerous. What is done is done, however, the charges were filed and the lawsuit was lost.

Foundation for genocide

Even though charges should not have been filed to begin with, the verdict remains unjust. And its consequences only remain to be felt in the future.

Some voices are already saying that they should not have stopped at Banja Luka in 1995 or that the only cure for this injustice is revenge. Well, the reasons for stopping the offensive in front of Banja Luka were as clear as they could have been. The revenge that would have happened to the town would have necessarily been qualified as genocide today. And that is precisely where the terrible trap of justice lies. The sorrow and bitterness are already turning into rage and hatred, as powerful as if it were 1995.

It is only a matter of conditions before Bosnia is headed toward genocide again. Revenge for Srebrenica will be a myth as powerful as the one from Kosovo that does not allow Serbia to rest at ease even today. A new genocide is already being mapped in Bosnia and the ruling of the International Criminal Tribunal is merely fertile ground for the growth of new death camps.