Neither Bakir's, nor Mladen's, nor Dragan's...

Fifty members of the political, legal, and academic community unanimously decided - the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina is entering the process of revising the verdict by which the International Court of Justice in The Hague, 10 years ago, convicted Serbia for violating the Genocide Convention, writes Patria. 

A top expert team, led by former US Ambassador for War Crimes David Scheffer, presented valid arguments and gave explicit explanations at a consultation in Sarajevo's City Hall, after which the conclusion was reached that the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegović, who is legally solely responsible, should sign the application for the revision of the verdict next week.

It did not take long for Dodik, Vukota, Mladen one, and then Mladen the other to react. It is indicative that the fiercest threats to Izetbegović are coming from his Banja Luka, while from neighboring Belgrade, Prime Minister Vučić is issuing a truly statesmanlike statement in a conciliatory tone, without any populist hysteria.

The Serbian Prime Minister knew this would happen, which he indirectly announced a month ago when Prime Minister Zvizdić visited Belgrade.

Just as he knows that for Serbia, which he is leading towards the European Union, there is no safer and brighter future if it does not turn its back once and for all on the bloody Milošević regime, which brought misery to the entire Balkans. The loser of Milošević's bloody rampage is not only BiH, or Croatia, or Kosovo. Serbia itself is also a loser.

There are many skeptics among Bosniaks as well, who believe that this, as they called it, political adventure should not have been undertaken. They believe that in the past 10 years, no solid evidence has emerged that would prove to international judges that Serbia is responsible not only for failing to prevent genocide but also for organizing and carrying it out.

They see this battle for justice as lost even before it has been officially confirmed by a signature. Most of those who speak this way are in the group called wounded pride, because no one informed them about what had been done in recent years, nor were they invited to join the expert team. However, their pessimism and the echo of wounded pride do not reach the victims, nor do they allow it to reach them. Waiting for truth and justice has not tired them. On the contrary.

There is a huge political burden on Izetbegović's shoulders, although he did not make the decision to revise alone, but with the consent and support of 50 people. He will have to show now whether he is truly up to the political fight that will follow due to the announcements by politicians from RS that they will block the work of BiH institutions, and that he has sealed his political career with this.

Announcing the decision to proceed with the revision of the verdict was, in the last two decades, perhaps one of the most serious statesmanlike and leadership moves on the BiH political scene regarding a political, legal, and moral issue – the issue of justice for the victims. It is a huge step, especially for Izetbegović himself, who would have been guilty no matter what he decided.  

There is no turning back, regardless of what the International Court of Justice decides on the request for revision or in the process itself. Now, the expert team should be allowed to do its job without additional political and media pressure. 

Had Izetbegović by chance appeared before the TV cameras and said that the verdict would not be revised, the surviving victims of the Milošević regime would have asked him, the silent witnesses of the genocide in Srebrenica, Bratunac, Prijedor, Zvornik, Ključ, Foča, Sanski Most would have asked him, the killed and expelled Croats would have asked him – why are you selling them out, at what price, and to whom, when Čović has already done so?

They are not interested in politics. They are not interested in Bakir, nor Dragan, nor Mladen, nor Aleksandar…

By: Edina Latif