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).

15 December, 2009

JEAN-RENÉ RUEZ INVESTIGATES (WATCH VIDEO)

HONORING OUR HERO: JEAN-RENÉ RUEZ


Jean-René Ruez, a senior French police official, was the central figure in establishing the facts about the executions of at least 8,372 Bosniaks in Srebrenica.

As a Chief Investigator for Srebrenica appointed by the Hague Tribunal, Jean-René Ruez has spent the past 14 years working tirelessly to collect the evidence of the Srebrenica genocide and prove that the massacres were planned and covered up in an attempt to hide the crime.

Before being appointed to lead what became the biggest criminal investigation in Europe since World War II, Jean-René Ruez studied law and entered in the elite French police commissioners’ school. He worked as a Senior police investigator in Paris, Marseille and then Nice.

After joining the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, he went straight to the field collecting evidence - going as far as digging out mass graves. Haunted by all he has learnt and worn down by the weight of his responsibility, Jean-René Ruez has sacrificed everything to try and hold the guilty to account. His contribution to the truth about the Srebrenica genocide is enormous. Through his eyes, we gain a fresh perspective on what happened at Srebrenica. For example, Serbian journalist Zoran Petrovic filmed the Srebrenica massacres and then blacked out key scenes to conceal the crime. Only thanks to Jean-René Ruez, the lost images would be uncovered and later used as evidence in the Courts.

Now meet Jean-René Ruez, Srebrenica hero:

VIDEO 1: Lost Images - Journeyman Pictures
YouTube (27:54 min
) ↓
WATCH DOCUMENTARY #1
(
Serbian journalist attempted to conceal the crime of Genocide)
(purchase info), video released on 30 June 2003.

VIDEO 2: Srebrenica: Autopsy of a Massacre - Journeyman Pictures
YouTube (10:30 min PREVIEW) ↓
WATCH DOCUMENTARY #2
(purchase info), full DVD version lasts 52 minutes.

Background: In April 1992, Serb forces with the help of the Yugoslav People's Army carried out a widespread ethnic cleansing of the Bosniak population of Podrinje, the Drina Valley of Eastern Bosnia where Srebrenica is located. At least 40,000 Bosniak refugees flocked to Srebrenica. That number rose to 80,000 by December 1992. Bosniak refugees had been forced to live in the Srebrenica ghetto with little or not means of survival. Serb Army stationed around Srebrenica never demilitarized, even though they were required to do so under the 1993 demilitarization agreements. In 1992, approximately 100,000 Bosniaks had been expelled from their homes in Eastern Bosnia. Additionally, at least 11,391 Bosniaks lost their lives in the region in 1992, three years before the Srebrenica genocide.

Serb forces stationed around Srebrenica constantly attacked neighbouring Bosniak villages, frequently bombarding them from air and with Serbian airplanes. More than 400 Bosnian Muslim villages were destroyed around Srebrenica in 1992.

In July 1995 the Bosnian Serb army staged a brutal takeover of Srebrenica and its surrounding area, where they proceeded to perpetrate genocide. Bosnian Serb soldiers and paramilitary thugs, both groups commonly known as Chetniks (Serbian Nazi collaborators in World War II) separated Bosniak families, forcibly expelled 30,000 Bosniaks, and summarily executed at least 8,372 Bosnian Muslims - boys, men, and the elderly. Srebrenica genocide is remembered the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

DNA results of the International Commission on Missing Persons support an estimate of 8,100 Srebrenica genocide victims. As of July 11 2009, the identities of 6,186 genocide victims have been revealed by the DNA analysis.


Related research articles:

Taking Up a Shovel to Expose Genocide in Bosnia
New York Times, Aug 8 2008., Profile of Jean-René Ruez.

Lost Images of the Srebrenica Genocide

IKON, Nov 24 2008.