DID YOU KNOW?  -- Three years before the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide, Serbs torched Bosniak villages and killed at least 3,166 Bosniaks around Srebrenica. In 1993, the UN described the besieged situation in Srebrenica as a "slow-motion process of genocide." In July 1995, Serbs forcibly expelled 25,000 Bosniaks, brutally raped many women and girls, and systematically killed 8,000+ men and boys (DNA confirmed).

08 July, 2009

ICTY RESPONDS: WE WILL NOT DROP KEY CHARGES AGAINST RADOVAN KARADZIC

PHOTO: Nerma Jelačić, Spokesperson for Registry and Chambers.

As recently reported by The Herald: "The judge preparing Radovan Karadzic's genocide trial... was considering dropping some charges to shorten court proceedings that could take years." The report published by The Herald turned out to be innacurate, sort of.

RESPONSE from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Office of the Prosecutor:

Asked about the recent reports in the media that Judge Bonomy invited Prosecution during the last Status Conference in the Karadžić to think about dropping either Srebrenica or Sarajevo charge of the indictment, Nerma Jelačić responded that at no point did Judge Bonomy invite the Prosecution to drop the 'Srebrenica or Sarajevo counts' as reported by the media. The Prosecution was told that they may need to start thinking about how to reduce the length of the trial and a number of possibilities were mentioned, including reducing the number of crime sites and not proceeding on certain counts. These were simply hypothetical examples to illustrate the application of the Rules. The Tribunal's rules stipulate that the Trial Chambers can invite the Prosecutor to reduce the number of counts or crime scenes charged in the indictment in the interest of a fair and expeditious trial and issue any appropriate orders.

posted by Srebrenica Genocide at 4:15 PM