Although ultimately going along with General Tolimir’s conviction of genocide in Srebrenica and Žepa, as dictated by the political exigencies of the moment, ICTY Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti nevertheless took it upon himself to compose a separate and partly dissenting opinion articulating his own perception of the case. His opinion is a cogent analysis of the charges against General Tolimir, but it is also generally applicable to other Srebrenica trials heard by the Hague Tribunal as well since in all of them most of the evidence and witnesses were the same. It will resonate as a juridical tour de force long after the majority opinion sinks into oblivion.
One of the points Judge Antonetti makes stands out in particular:
“[Tolimir’s] role, which was irreversibly determined by this Appeal Judgement, does not, however, provide an answer to the legitimate question of the victims’ families as to who ordered the mass executions. The splitting up of the case files on Srebrenica, and the almost complete control over presentation of evidence by the parties, does not seem to me to have provided an answer to this question that is crucial to the victims’ families and the expectations of the international community.” (p. 141)
After two decades of investigating Srebrenica and at least half a dozen Srebrenica show trials and hundreds of millions of dollars invested in it, ICTY’s inability to provide a satisfactory answer even to this basic question makes for a dismal record.
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