Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti’s partly dissenting opinion was written in the context of the Appellate Judgment in the Tolimir case, published in April of 2015. In the context of an incisive, Cartesian critique of the majority’s view, Antonetti concludes with some poignant observations:
“[The Accused’s] role, which was irreversibly determined by this Appeal Judgment, does not, however, provide an answer to the legitimate question of the victims’ families as to who ordered the mass executions (…) In that respect, I must mention the expectation of the victims’ families to learn the identity of the perpetrators of these tragic events that culminated in the executions of several thousand Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina (…) To this day, based on the evidence in the case file, I do not have an answer to this question.”
These devastating words of one of the most respected and fair-minded judges of the Hague Tribunal should be pondered by everyone. If after more than twenty years of investigating the Tribunal has failed to establish even the basic facts about Srebrenica, that strongly suggests that it was going about its job the wrong way, using a methodology which does not ensure professionally sustainable (or at least informative) conclusions, and that it was probably motivated by agendas that, for the most part, were without a juridical foundation.
In the end, Judge Antonetti opted to express solidarity with his colleagues on the panel with regard to the issues of genocide and condemnation of the Accused. However, that will hardly be noted and it certainly did not make any difference to the verdict. Intellectual and legal history, however, will be enriched by his devastating analysis which does not leave one stone upon another in the majority’s verdict.
SEPARATE AND PARTLY DISSENTING OPINION OF JUDGE ANTONETTI IN THE TOLIMIR CASE
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