20 July 2009 Different Srebrenica associations are considering filing suit “with a higher instance court than The Hague Tribunal” over the prosecution’s destruction of objects found in mass graves.
Local associations of Srebrenica victims have said they may choose to file suit against those responsible at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, for the destruction of objects, including personal documents and hair and bone fragments.
“They must have contacted the families of the people whose remains were found. They should not have destroyed the personal documents, because they could have been used as evidence in other trials,” Hajra Catic, president of the Women of Srebrenica citizens’ association said.
Catic said she does not expect any support from the local Bosnian authorities, claiming that while “they knew everything about it,” they did nothing to address the issue.
Around 1,000 objects, found in mass graves shortly after the war, were subsequently destroyed. The digging was conducted under the supervision of Hague prosecution representatives.
“Most objects were found in mass graves. They were in a state of decay and thus represented a health risk,” Olga Kavran, spokesperson for the Hague prosecution, told reporters.
The Bosnian liaison officer for the tribunal, Amir Ahmic, says that a detailed report on the destruction is pending.
“The destruction was done during the term of [former] chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. Nobody outside the tribunal knew about it. I personally consider that they should have informed the victims’ families prior to conducting some kind of a selection,” Ahmic said.
According to Ahmic, Haris Silajdzic, Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has called on the Hague prosecution to undertake an investigation to determine the reasons why the materials were destroyed.
However, government authorities have not officially announced that an investigation into the issue has been requested.
The Hague prosecution decided to officially confirm that the artifacts had been destroyed after the defence team of Vujadin Popovic, the former security chief of the Republika Srpska Army’s Drina Corps, asked for a permission to reopen the evidence presenting process.
The general public was not aware of the fact that the artifacts had been destroyed until May of this year, when BIRN – Justice Report published an article on the subject. At first the prosecution refused to comment on the allegations. (See: Loss of Srebrenica Victims’ Possessions Shocks Families)
According to the latest statements of the ICTY prosecution, all objects were photographed prior to their destruction. It was further alleged that records on the destroyed material were kept by archiving those photographs.
BIRN