Bosnia submits papers in Serbia genocide case

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Bosnia and Herzegovina officially filed appeal papers on Thursday to the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague to revive an genocide case against neighboring Serbia.

The appeal centers on the court’s decision in 2007 not to indict Serbia on genocide charges stemming from atrocities committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

Bosnian leaders had indicated last week they would seek to re-open the case against Serbia.

Following the adoption of the application in The Hague, the identified items will be sent to Belgrade.

Meanwhile on Thursday, an extraordinary session of the Bosnian Herzegovina Council in the capital Sarajevo was halted when the body’s Bosniak member, Bakir Izetbegovic, walked out of the meeting.

Talking to reporters later, Izetbegovic said the decision to re-open the genocide case had caused tension in the country recently but added:

"We are accused of making a crisis because we did not withdraw the decision. The main crisis-makers are those who deny the genocide they committed, praise war criminals and give the names of war criminals to their dormitories."

However, Mladen Ivanic, the Serb member of the Council, said he was not worried about the reopening of the genocide case.

"It will soon be proven that the decision is not legal… decision making and parallel structuring outside Bosnia's institutions worry me the most," he said.

On Wednesday, the leader of Bosnia’s Serb entity -- Republika Srpska -- accused those behind the appeal of trying to abolish his republic.

Serbia’s Prime Minister Alexandar Vucic has also described the appeal as setting back relations between Sarajevo and Belgrade by years.