Quoting a statement issued by the office of US lawyer Francis Boyle, who represents the families of survivors of the Srebrenica massacre, the media said that charges were filed with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte, on 4 February this year.
Boyle, who also initiated Bosnia-Herzegovina's genocide case against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) before the International Court of Justice, accused former UN officials of directly or indirectly participating in planning, instigating and aiding and abetting in the commission of crimes against the Muslims from Srebrenica.
Among those accused are the former and present UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan respectively, civilian and military chiefs of the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) Yasushi Akashi, Bernard Janvier, Rupert Smith and Michael Rose, and peace mediators Thorvald Stoltenberg, Carl Bildt and David Owen.
Charges were again pressed against Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, who are wanted by the ICTY.
Boyle said that in accordance with the ICTY Statute he expected the prosecutor to prepare indictments and submit them to a tribunal judge for confirmation.