All Bosnian media reported on Tuesday that the Human Rights Commission of the Constitutional Court
of Bosnia-Herzegovina positively assessed the report on the events in Srebrenica, however, the Bosnian Serb authorities were entrusted with another task - to take, on the basis of the report, measures aimed at identifying and bringing to justice persons responsible for the Srebrenica massacre.
The commission investigating the events in Srebrenica was established due to pressure from the international community and in line with the decision of Bosnia's House of Human Rights of March 2003, which accepted a lawsuit filed by the families of missing Srebrenica residents and bound the authorities of Republika Srpska to check and make available all data that could help shed light on the fate of the missing.
Deputy High Representative Bernard Fassier said that the Office of the High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina expected the Bosnian Serb authorities to publish the names of the missing, but that classified sections of the report which may be used for the prosecution of the perpetrators would remain classified.
The Commission for Human Rights of the Constitutional Court described the report as "a dramatic turn from the initial official position of the authorities of Republika Srpska, which negated, concealed and covered up the crime". It is particularly important that the entity's authorities admitted that they were responsible for intentional and mass crimes committed in this eastern Bosnian enclave, the Commission said.
Banja Luka's "Nezavisne novine" daily of Tuesday claims that the Bosnian Serb government's report actually opened the possibility that the number of missing Muslims might not be final.
It is generally believed that between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslims went missing in Srebrenica, but the commission said that the families and friends of the missing were still sending information which had not been available previously, while simultaneously double entries of the same data were being discovered on different lists.
The association of the families of missing Srebrenica residents has suspicions about the number stated in the final report, but it believes that it is important that the list remains open for possible changes and new entries.
Munira Subasic of the "Movement of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves" association said it was more important for the association to see the Bosnian Serb authorities take measures to punish the perpetrators.
The chairman of the commission for Srebrenica, Milan Bogdanic, told reporters the commission's work had not been under any political influence and was based exclusively on facts. He added that he expected a similar model to be applied to the investigation of other crimes committed in the country during the war, notably those committed against Serbs.