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).

25 February, 2010

THE TRIAL OF CHEMICAL ZDRAVKO TOLIMIR BEGINS FRIDAY

NEW SREBRENICA GENOCIDE TRIAL BEGINS FRIDAY

The trial of Zdravko Tolimir (aka: Chemical Tolimir) - former high ranking official of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) who proposed gassing Srebrenica women and children with chemical poison - is scheduled to begin Friday at 14:15 in Courtroom III.

Photo of Chemical Tolimir (Zdravko Tolimir) in custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Chemical Tolimir is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war committed between July and November 1995 against Bosniaks in Srebrenica and Žepa, two former enclaves in eastern Bosnia. To watch the trial LIVE from the Hague, follow this link (pay attention to the different time zones).

According to Prosecutor Peter McCloskey, criminal orders in war are as a rule issued verbally, but a few exceptions exist to the rule. On 21 July 1995, General Zdravko Tolimir sent a confidential report from Zepa to General Radomir Miletic, acting Chief of General Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army (VRS). Chemical Tolimir was requesting help to crush some Bosnian military strongholds, expressing his view that "the best way to do it would be to use chemical weapons". In the same report, Chemical Tolimir went even further, proposing chemical strikes against refugee columns of women, children and elderly leaving Zepa, because that would "force the Muslim fighters to surrender quickly", in his opinion.

The indictment against Zdravko Tolimir can be found atthis link. The trial can be followed live on the Tribunal’s website at www.icty.org.

posted by Srebrenica Genocide at 4:01 PM