Speaking on Bosnia's behalf, US international law expert Thomas Franck said it had been proven that between 7,000 and 8,000 Bosniaks had been killed in Srebrenica in July 1995, and announced that video footage of the Scorpions paramilitary unit killing captives would be shown to prove the involvement of units from Serbia in the Srebrenica massacre.
The Scorpions took part in the Srebrenica massacre under the aegis of the Serbian Interior Ministry. Franck said the video recording showing them killing Bosniaks was a visual proof of genocide.
He went on to say that Bosnia's representatives would use testimonies and facts established in trials before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Two final sentences have already qualified the massacre in Srebrenica as genocide.
Franck complained that Bosnia's lawyers were not given access to evidence in the possession of Belgrade authorities.
Bosnia and Herzegovina launched the genocide claim against the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) on 20 March 1993, as the war raged, calling on the ICJ, the UN's highest body, to urge Belgrade to take measures to prevent the ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs.
On 8 April 1993, the ICJ urged FRY to immediately do everything to prevent genocide. Belgrade ignored the request and the gravest crimes in Bosnia, including Srebrenica, were yet to take place.
Thirteen years later Bosnia's legal representatives are faced with proving their claim with crimes which happened subsequently, which legal experts consider questionable.
Bosnia will be presenting arguments until March 7, after which Serbia and Montenegro's representatives will have seven days to do the same.
Between 17 and 28 March, 15 ICJ judges will hear experts and testimonies from both sides. In line with a code they signed, journalists will be able to report on them only after March 28.
The two sides will present another round of arguments from April 18 to May 9, when the main hearing ends. A verdict in the first ICJ genocide trial is expected to be handed down by the end of the year.