Charles Crawford: Belgrade must accept history and finally confront need for action on Srebrenica
[Charles Crawford is a former UK ambassador to Belgrade.]
Belgrade is having a gloomy time in foreign courts. First the International Court of Justice last week gave an advisory opinion on Kosovo's 2008 independence declaration which was widely seen as a significant victory for Kosovo.
Now Judge Timothy Workman has not so much quashed as squashed Serbia's attempt to get former Bosnia leader Ejup Ganic extradited to Belgrade to face war crimes charges arising from the infamous Dobrovoljacka Street shootings in Sarajevo back in 1992.
The attack by pro-Bosnia forces on the Yugoslav Army convoy as it attempted to leave Sarajevo under UN protection on 3 May 1992 was dishonourable and a crime.
But are all dishonourable crimes equal? Belgrade's application in London looked like a weird attempt to cover everything in political slime to make a specious Serbia-favouring syllogism: All slimy people are guilty; all involved in the Yugoslav imbroglio were equally slimy; therefore all were equally guilty – and, by the way, equally innocent.
This sits (putting it mildly) uneasily with the facts. As the largest former Yugoslav republic, Serbia could have defined the region's future by insisting on reform and democracy. Instead Milosevic used Serbia's weight violently to lunge towards new ethnic facts on the ground.
Now what?..
Read entire article at Independent (UK)
Belgrade is having a gloomy time in foreign courts. First the International Court of Justice last week gave an advisory opinion on Kosovo's 2008 independence declaration which was widely seen as a significant victory for Kosovo.
Now Judge Timothy Workman has not so much quashed as squashed Serbia's attempt to get former Bosnia leader Ejup Ganic extradited to Belgrade to face war crimes charges arising from the infamous Dobrovoljacka Street shootings in Sarajevo back in 1992.
The attack by pro-Bosnia forces on the Yugoslav Army convoy as it attempted to leave Sarajevo under UN protection on 3 May 1992 was dishonourable and a crime.
But are all dishonourable crimes equal? Belgrade's application in London looked like a weird attempt to cover everything in political slime to make a specious Serbia-favouring syllogism: All slimy people are guilty; all involved in the Yugoslav imbroglio were equally slimy; therefore all were equally guilty – and, by the way, equally innocent.
This sits (putting it mildly) uneasily with the facts. As the largest former Yugoslav republic, Serbia could have defined the region's future by insisting on reform and democracy. Instead Milosevic used Serbia's weight violently to lunge towards new ethnic facts on the ground.
Now what?..