Bosnia did not specify its damages claim because it believes that the claim must become the subject of negotiations of the two countries' experts after the court establishes Serbia and Montenegro's responsibility for genocide, a representative of the prosecution, professor Alain Pellet from the Paris-based Nanterre university said.
Pellet, a former president of the UN International Law Commission, said Bosnia did not file the suit against Serbia and Montenegro out of greed, but because it wanted the court to establish the truth about genocide.
By saying this, Pellet reacted to the statement by Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus who said that the subject of the suit before the ICJ was not genocide but US100 billion.
Pellet reiterated that the incumbent government in Serbia and Montenegro did not arrest and punish those responsible for genocide, such as Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
Professor Thomas Frank of the University of New York, also representing Bosnia, said that declaring Serbia and Montenegro guilty of genocide would not mean a collective guilt of the people. He also stressed that citizens also must bear responsibility for the actions of their government,
Representatives of Serbia and Montenegro will start presenting their arguments on Wednesday. The main hearing is scheduled to end on 9 May and the verdict is expected to be delivered by year's end.