Deadline expires next year: Revision of BiH's lawsuit against Serbia must be the final act in the pursuit of justice

 

Today's meeting in the Holiday Inn hotel in Sarajevo, where the possible revision of BiH's lawsuit against Serbia was discussed, was attended by distinguished British lawyer Sir Geoffrey Nice, Nevenka Tromp, a long-time member of the Hague Tribunal's Leading Investigation Team, Vasvija Vidović, a distinguished Bosnian lawyer, Jusuf Pušina, a diplomat and former minister in the BiH government, and Prof. Dr. Muris Spahić.

Geoffrey Nice stated that the state of BiH must take certain steps for the revision of the lawsuit:

- If you do nothing, the fact will remain for your children and your children's children that Serbia did not commit genocide, said Nice.

- I have always given the advice: It will be difficult, but you must try. Because if you try, you can succeed, and even if you fail, you will leave a permanent mark that you tried.

Nevenka Tromp, who was in Sarajevo to promote her book "The Criminal Proceedings against Slobodan Milošević – An Unfinished Trial", also said that the main thing is to try to do something in the name of justice.

- Every lawyer is happy if they can bring a case to an end, even with a negative verdict. In my 12 and a half years of work at the Tribunal, I learned that appealing a verdict is also part of the pursuit of justice. You must be happy that you have another possibility, another station before the International Court of Justice. If you do nothing, you will send a message that you agree with the 2007 verdict, which has been labelled as unjust from many quarters.

Lawyer Vasvija Vidović was part of the team with Francis Boyle and Ambassador Muhamed Šaćirbey when they filed the lawsuit back in 1993. She warned about the short five-month period remaining to take any serious action.

- Even back in 1993, there were pressures on the BiH authorities. Not only from Serbia, but also from the international community that wanted peace here at the price of justice. Unfortunately, that is the situation today, said Vidović.

Mustafa Hajrić, a 'man from the audience' and a member of the World Bosniak Congress Main Board, also took the floor, explaining that he has been aware of the fate of the lawsuit and the revision of the process in The Hague before the ICJ for years.

He said that Sakib Softić, the liaison officer with the International Court of Justice, can file the new lawsuit. If not him, then the BiH Ambassador to the Netherlands, or the BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Hajrić raised the question of the current status of the liaison officer with the ICJ. He also added that there are sufficient funds in the account for a potential revision. Money from our citizens' contributions is in the account and has been there since the time of President Alija Izetbegović.

Hajrić then directly proposed a team led by Sir Geoffrey Nice, along with Ms. Vasvija Vidović and Nevenka Tromp. Lawyer Nice immediately declined the offer due to his extensive commitments.

Jusuf Pušina said that the public will soon learn about the members of the potential team for the revision of BiH's lawsuit against Serbia before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.