SARAJEVO, Oct 15 (Hina) - Bosnian Serb authorities will have to set up a special commission which is to establish within six months all the facts concerning the July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, the international community's High
Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown, said on Wednesday.
SARAJEVO, Oct 15 (Hina) - Bosnian Serb authorities will have to set
up a special commission which is to establish within six months all
the facts concerning the July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, the
international community's High Representative in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown, said on Wednesday. #L#
Reacting to a letter from the Human Rights Court (HRC), Bosnia's
supreme judicial institution dealing with the protection of human
rights, Ashdown said that the Republic of Srpska remained obliged
to establish all the facts relevant to the Srebrenica tragedy.
This obligation stems from an HRC decision of March this year, which
was passed following a claim filed by a group of missing Srebrenica
residents' families.
Authorities in Banja Luka were instructed on that occasion to
establish what happened to thousands of missing Muslims, determine
mass grave locations, and identify the perpetrators of the crimes.
The Bosnian Serb government submitted a report on the Srebrenica
massacre to the HRC in September, but the report was assessed as
incomplete. As a result, the HRC okayed a proposal for the
establishment of an independent commission which will investigate
all the circumstances of the Srebrenica tragedy.
Ashdown said today it would be best if the commission was founded by
Republic of Srpska President Dragan Cavic and if international
representatives and one of the tragedy's survivors took part in the
commission's work.
Ashdown said he discussed this today with the chief prosecutor with
the Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del
Ponte, who confirmed the U.N. tribunal was interested in appointing
its representative to the commission.
Ashdown said the international community was aware that until now,
the Bosnian Serb ministries of defence and the interior as well as
its intelligence were the ones obstructing bids to arrive at the
full truth about the Srebrenica massacre.
Ashdown said any obstruction of investigations to be carried out by
the independent commission would be severely punished.
The future of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as its Serb entity depends
on the report, he said.
(hina) ha sb